A middleweight bout between contenders Michael Bisping (24-5, 14-5 UFC) and Mark Munoz (13-3, 8-3 UFC) has been verbally agreed to for an unnamed event on October 26 from Manchester, England.
News of the booking was first reported by MMA Junkie on Friday night.
Bisping is looking to notch his second straight win after scoring a technical decision win over Alan Belcher at UFC 159 in April. Bisping was in title contention following four straight wins, but then scored a loss to Chael Sonnen in January 2012. He found himself right back in contention after scoring a win over Brian Stann in September. A knockout loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC On FX 7 in January knocked him back out of the title picture, but two straight wins over fellow contenders would put Bisping right back into the title shot hunt.
Munoz returned from a year-long layoff at last weekend’s UFC 162 event where he scored a unanimous decision win over Tim Boestch. Munoz had been battling injuries and depression following the layoff, which came after a knockout loss to newly-minted UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman. Munoz had scored consecutive wins over Aaron Simpson, C.B. Dollaway, Demian Maia and Chris Leben prior to the loss to Weidman.
Bisping has thrown insults at Munoz in recent times, calling him “fat” and “out of shape” after the loss to Weidman. Bisping had been rumored to meet Costa Philippou before the UFC 162 event, but Munoz’ win at UFC 162 has forced a change in plans, and the winner between Bisping and Munoz could find themselves next in line for a middleweight title shot.
Bisping and Munoz are expected to be the five-round main event on the evening.
The as-yet unnamed UFC event will take place from the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. It is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 though official confirmation of the event and broadcast schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
