Bisping is fresh off of a third round TKO victory over Jason “Mayhem” Miller this past Saturday, and will quickly turn around for the opportunity to fight on FOX.
His opponent Demian Maia is the former number one contender and arguably the best BJJ practitioner in the sport, picking up Submission of the Night honors four times. With improved standup, Maia was able to defeat former Sangoku champion Jorge Santiago this past May by way of unanimous decision.
The win made Maia 3-1 since his championship fight with Silva and his only loss in that span was to Mark Munoz , who also fights on the Jan. 28th card.
Although it is an intriguing matchup, I was hoping Bisping was going to get a more well known fighter with a more versatile game. While Maia does have incredible BJJ, every fight starts on the feet and Maia does not have great striking and his wrestling is bad.
I don't believe Maia has the tools in order to get this fight to the ground and think Bisping will easily pick him apart on the feet with his crisp, technical striking.
I also believe taking this fight is more of a risk than a reward for Bisping. Sure, with such a quick turnaround Bisping is already in great shape and the exposure of fighting on FOX is great for his career but Maia is not the big name fighter I felt Bisping deserved.
Personally, I would have loved for Bisping to either face Alan Belcher or Brian Stann, since they both currently are available and would have proven to be tougher fights to test how close Bisping is to a championship opportunity, instead of the one-trick pony Maia.
However, the winner of Maia vs. Bisping will most likely get the next shot at the title after the Sonnen/Munoz winner.
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