In July there were reports that Michael Bisping and Mark Munoz would fight each other in Bisping's hometown of Manchester, England in the fall. The fight was temporarily put "on hold" while the UFC formally finalized the card. Today, Gareth A. Davies confirmed that the event is official and so is the feature bout:
Bisping (24-5) is coming off a technical decision win over Alan Belcher at UFC 159, which ended early in the 3rd round after Belcher was unable to continue when Bisping poked him in the eye. This will be Michael's 3rd fight of 2013, with the aforementioned win over Belcher and the TKO loss to Vitor Belfort in Brazil. The last time Bisping fought in Manchester was in 2009, when he rallied from an early knockdown to beat Denis Kang at UFC 105.
Munoz (13-3) dominated Tim Boetsch at UFC 162, giving him his first win since his TKO stoppage of Chris Leben at UFC 138 in November 2011. In fact, Munoz/Leben stands as the first UFC non-title five-round main event. His only losses at middleweight are against former title challenger Yushin Okami and to current champion Chris Weidman.
No word on what US channel will broadcast this card, but presumably it will be on either Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2.
UPDATE: It will be on Fox Sports 2, which is currently FUEL TV.
This is the only fight confirmed thus far, but keep checking Bloody Elbow for card updates over the next several weeks.
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