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Bisping: Making 185-lbs. will “Not be a Problem”

It's become more and more commonplace for fighters to drop in weight following defeat. Among those who have successfully transitioned to lighter poundage include Sean Sherk (Pictures), Joe Stevenson and Mike Swick (Pictures).

Another fighter ready to take that plunge is likeable Liverpool contender Michael Bisping (Pictures).

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Following a close defeat last time out to Rashad Evans (Pictures), the "Ultimate Fighter 3" light heavyweight winner is set to make his middleweight debut April 19 at UFC 83 against Charles McCarthy (Pictures).

For Bisping, who is setting up his own clothing label while juggling transatlantic training jaunts between the United Kingdom and California, the move to 185 isn't a case of looking to pick on the little guys. Rather, it's a sensible and perhaps overdue drop to compete at his natural weight class.

"It's pretty simple. All my career people said I was fighting at the wrong weight, but the thing was, I was winning fights convincingly," Bisping explained. "My thinking was, while I was winning, I'll stay at 205. I can make light heavyweight easily. I didn't have to cut any weight, and had I beat Rashad Evans (Pictures), the winner was set to break the UFC top five. Rashad was the one who got his hand raised and has gone on to be matched with Chuck Liddell (Pictures). So at that point it made sense to stay at light heavyweight."

That close, hard-fought defeat to Evans, however, would prove to be the turning point.

"I had a plan A and a plan B. Plan A was to stay undefeated my entire career," Bisping said with a laugh. "And plan B was to drop in weight if I ever got beat."

For many fighters, the process of cutting weight can be an agonizing one. Days of a miserable, restrictive diet are followed by horrendous sweatsuit-clad hours in the sauna. Bisping, however, anticipates few such problems squeezing his 6-foot-2 frame into the smaller division.

"Currently, I'm at 200 pounds with around five weeks to go before the fight," he said. "I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to heat, so I try to avoid saunas. I'll eat sensibly and a few days before the fight I'll stop drinking, so making 185 will not be a problem."

After winning his first 13 bouts inside the distance, with most of his wins coming via knockout or TKO, the Wolfslair fighter has been forced to go the distance in his two most recent fights -- a controversial decision over Matt Hamill (Pictures) and the aforementioned defeat to Evans in November last year.

In both bouts Bisping revealed a more tactical -- some say more tentative -- side.

"Both of them fights were against very high standard wrestlers, so the game plan had to be different," Bisping said. "It's a bit of a pain because I didn't let my hands go as much as I would have liked because I had to be concerned with fending off their takedowns."

In MMA, seasoned American warriors with a solid wrestling base are commonplace. Their styles can prove nightmarish for strikers and submission wizards alike. Bisping, though, is not overly concerned.

"All fights are about game plans," he said. "Working your wrestling is part of the game. Being on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,' and of course being in the UFC, opens doors, and I'm not shy. I make a lot of friends. I'm like a sponge, constantly taking ideas from people. I'm not afraid of hard work either. Like a lot of guys here in the U.K., I have great striking, but I feel my wrestling is also at a high standard. I have a good double- and single-leg. I take a lot of people down in the gym, and I even took Rashad down at one point."

His next opponent, Charles McCarthy (Pictures), is a submission specialist. Will Bisping's natural desire to destroy his opposition override a more tactical approach to this tricky foe?

"Again, it's another opponent that's going to try to take me down," Bisping said with a sigh. "He's been in martial arts for a long time, an experienced guy, and it will be to his advantage to look to take me down. Those are his strengths, so it's up to me to neutralize those strengths. In some ways I'm still a novice, and I don't mind admitting that. I'm still pinching techniques from people to raise my game to the next level."

Right now, being a middleweight with title aspirations in the UFC is a chilling prospect. Sitting atop the 185-pound ladder is none other than Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), a man currently riding the hottest streak in all of MMA.

"With Silva, you're talking about a man up there with the best in the world," stated Bisping. "It's hard to argue with that. He's not just beating people; he's destroying them. Guys like Dan Henderson (Pictures), and he makes it look easy. The way he lost that first round against Henderson, went back to his corner, regrouped and came back to turn the fight around was really impressive. He's got the belt. Everyone else in the division wants to test themselves against the best and fight the number one guy. In that regard, I'm no different."

Silva's recent destruction of Henderson served to highlight the gulf in class between himself and the best of the rest. That doesn't mean Bisping is expecting a stroll in the park en route to a potential title shot, though.

"I'm new to 185 and I have to first establish myself at the weight," Bisping said. "Realistically, it will be three or four fights and a year or 18 months before we can talk about title shots. Middleweight is pretty stacked. Yushin Okami (Pictures)'s right up there, and Franklin, while not in immediate contention, is still one of the top guys. Chris Leben (Pictures) is doing well right now, and there's the likes of Nate Marquardt and veterans like Jeremy Horn (Pictures). It may be a cliché, but I'm not calling people out. I have no history or problems with anyone in the division, so I don't want to disrespect anyone by calling them out. The UFC calls and tells me who I'm fighting, and I have never once argued about anyone they have put in front of me. I take it one fight at a time."

Despite being "overwhelmed and grateful" for the level of support he receives, Bisping has been stung by some of the recent criticism that followed his bouts with both Hamill and Evans. Now the popular brawler is eager to get back on track with what he hopes will be an eye-catching performance against McCarthy in Montreal.

"I have been pissed off with the way my last two fights have gone down, and I know some of the fans have been disappointed too," he said. "I'm looking to get back to how I used to do things, by knocking people out in exciting fashion. That starts with Charles McCarthy (Pictures)."
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