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The Fight: Anderson Silva vs. Michael BispingThe Real Fight: Michael Bisping vs. Patterns
The Stakes
Michael Bisping has proven to be one of the most enduring fighters in the UFC. With a UFC career spanning 23 fights and dating back to 2006's The Ultimate Fighter season 3, he is one of the promotion's longest-tenured and most successful current fighters.
Unfortunately, those 23 fights include zero title shots and zero wins against past or future UFC champions. With his biggest win being a pick 'em between Brian Stann and Cung Le, he has the opportunity to reshape his legacy and score a career-defining win over the legendary former middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.
The Question
Can Michael Bisping Finally Get a Career-Defining Win?
Analysis
This fight could make or break Bisping's legacy, plain and simple. Despite being one of the few enduring names in the UFC middleweight division, his staying power and relevance has never been tied to elite-level skills or key wins over big names.
For a long while, he got by as the middleweight division's top heel, mixing together trash talk and plenty of in-cage controversy (Warning, NSFW Language in this and following links). More recently, he has (ironically) become a champion of fair play due to the endless list of insults he has tossed at fighters suspended for PED use.
That relevance, however, is fleeting. Outside the handful of crossover stars in combat sports history, titles, devastating losses and landscape-changing wins are the only things fighters are remembered for. While Bisping has had a long and successful career, few will be singing stories of the day The Count out-pointed Chris Leben.
At Fight Night 84, however, that will change. Either he will go down as the man who punched the GOAT's ticket to Retirement City or he will cement his place as the guy who couldn't quite get it done against true contenders.
Source: UFC Fight Night 83 Results: 5 Burning Questions Heading into Fight Night 84
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