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The rivalry between Michael Bisping and Tim Kennedy could finally result in an actual fight between the two middleweight contenders this spring. According to Fox Sports, Bisping has verbally agreed to fight Kennedy in the main event of the 'TUF Nations' finale on April 16th in Quebec City, Quebec. The one potential snag that could prevent this fight from happening is the status of Bisping's right eye:
"I was cleared to fight by my doctor. My doctor wrote a letter to the UFC, clearing me 100%. The UFC very kindly offered me a fight against Tim Kennedy. No bout agreements are signed as yet, but unfortunately for me the UFC want to do some more testing to cover their side of things. They don't want anything to go wrong with my eye," Bisping told BT Sport's Beyond the Octagon earlier this week.
"So I've got to do a visual field test, that should be taking place pretty quickly, I'm assuming. I want to get it done ASAP and get this fight locked away."
Bisping (24-5) has been out of action since April of last year after suffering a detached retina that threatened to end his career. The TUF 3 light heavyweight winner and perennial top 10 middleweight beat Alan Belcher by technical decision (which came after he poked Belcher's eye in the 3rd round), and was scheduled to fight Mark Munoz in Manchester before the detached retina forced him off the card.
Kennedy (17-4) is a former Strikeforce title challenger who is 2-0 in the UFC with wins over Roger Gracie and a thunderous KO of Rafael Natal at UFC Fight For The Troops 3. He and Bisping have had multiple heated exchanges on Twitter, and Kennedy went as far as to draw up a fake bout agreement for Bisping to sign.
So if Bisping is given the "thumbs up" signal by the UFC, you can expect a formal announcement of this fight very shortly. 'TUF Nations' currently airs Wednesday nights on Fox Sports 1 and it's logical to assume that the live finale will also be broadcast on FS1. Coaches Patrick Cote and Kyle Noke are also expected to compete on the card, as well as Mitch Gagnon against Tim Gorman.
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