“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner Michael Bisping hit the scales before a throng of fellow Britons, a little more than 24 hours ahead of his marquee matchup with Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Anchored at the Wolfslair Academy, Bisping has won two of his past three fights. The 31-year-old Englishman last appeared at UFC 114 in May, when he notched a unanimous decision against former International Fight League middleweight champion Dan Miller. Bisping has secured more than half (12) of his 19 career wins by knockout or technical knockout and has been finished only once -- by former two-division Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Dan Henderson -- in his 22-fight professional career. He remains undefeated (15-0) on British soil.
Akiyama finds himself on the rebound after he submitted to a triangle choke from Chris Leben at UFC 116 in July; it was his first loss in more than five years. The 35-year-old Judo black belt holds notable wins against surging middleweight contender Alan Belcher, 2006 Pride welterweight grand prix finalist Denis Kang and former heavyweight boxing champion Francois Botha.
UFC 120 -- which will air on same-day tape delay on Spike TV at 8 p.m. ET -- will also feature a welterweight battle pitting the unbeaten John Hathaway (171) against Mike Pyle (170), a heavyweight duel pairing Cheick Kongo (228) with Travis Browne (251) and a welterweight matchup between “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 9 winner James Wilks (170) and Claude Patrick (171).
UFC 120 “Bisping vs. Akiyama”
Saturday, Oct. 16
O2 Arena
London
Michael Bisping (185) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (185)
Dan Hardy (171) vs. Carlos Condit (170)
John Hathaway (171) vs. Mike Pyle (170)
Cheick Kongo (228) vs. Travis Browne (251)
James Wilks (170) vs. Claude Patrick (171)
Cyrille Diabate (204) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (204)
Rob Broughton (257) vs. Vinicius Kappke de Quieroz (239)
Paul Sass (155) vs. Mark Holst (155)
Spencer Fisher (155) vs. Curt Warburton (154)
James McSweeney (205) vs. Fabio Maldonado (204)