UFC on FOX 2: America vs. England for the Chance To Fight the Brazilian Spider

"An injury to Mark Munoz has caused British fighter Michael Bisping to replace him at UFC on FOX 2 opposite Chael Sonnen"

The UFC on Fox 2 event took a hit earlier this afternoon as UFC President Dana White tweeted that UFC Middleweight contender Mark Munoz  (12-2) was injured and out of his number one contender’s bout with Chael Sonnen (26-11-1) on January 28^th.

Luckily, a replacement was immediately named as the UFC’s top British fighter Michael Bisping (22-3) will replace Munoz and fight Sonnen at the event.

Bisping was previously scheduled to fight Damien Maia (15-3), but is stepping up in competition to fight Sonnen who is widely considered to be the 2^nd best Middleweight in the world, after UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (31-4).

The contest will still serve as a number one contender’s fight, with the victor receiving the next crack at the “Spider.”

To be honest, the Sonnen vs. Bisping fight intrigues me more than the two previous announced contests, although I believe it to be a much easier fight for Sonnen.

Bisping is not an elite wrestler and will most likely get taken down in this contest, but I feel his overall game is enough to keep things interesting with Sonnen, especially on the feet. Bisping has a very underrated standup game, as well as a severely underrated ground game, but he is going to have to pull out every trick in his book if he wants to defeat Sonnen.

Without a question of a doubt, Sonnen will immediately look to take Bisping down, and in all likelihood he will succeed, however, Sonnen has a habit of getting caught in submissions, as 8 of his 11 career losses have come via some sort of submission, and as I said Bisping has a very underrated ground game.

This bout intrigues me more than the previously announced fight between Sonnen and Munoz because while Munoz is a fantastic wrestler with heavy ground and pound, he just is not as complete a fighter as Bisping especially on the feet, and I feel he is not ready for a title shot just yet.

However, Munoz did beat Sonnen in a wrestling competition back in college, but this is MMA and on a strictly MMA level, I feel Sonnen would have gotten the better of Munoz, mainly due to experience.

Bisping, on the other hand, has experience in MMA and has fought on the biggest shows against the best fighters in the world consistently. He only has three losses on his record, two of which have been controversial decisions against former champions Rashad Evans when he was competing at Light Heavyweight and Wanderlei Silva, and has only been thoroughly defeated by the right hand of Dan Henderson at UFC 100 (knockout of the century).

The trash talk for this fight could be legendary as well, as both Sonnen and Bisping are pound for pound the best talkers in the sport.  Both are incredibly witty and should be an easy promotional weapon for the UFC to help draw interest towards the fight and the event.

When the two step into the cage, however, I expect Sonnen to emerge with his hand raised via decision. Bisping is tough and I doubt Sonnen will be able to finish him, but Sonnen’s wrestling is so strong that I see him taking Bisping down and having his way with him. However, there is always the possibility of Bisping catching him in a submission but I do not see it happening.

I am pretty confident that after this fight, we will finally see the long anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, possibly in a soccer stadium in Brazil, which would be nothing short of epic!