MMATH

Silva is set to take on Bisping at UFC 110.  This match is interesting in how it fits into the UFC’s matchmaking schema. The UFC is well known for building fighters on an ascending arc system. They like to take a fighter and let them put together a few wins and gather momentum until they face a title shot. However, there are lots of fighters who are perpetually stuck in the middle due to their inability to break into the upper echelons of their respective division.

Bisping and Silva is essentially what happens when UFC mixed martial artists are stuck in their sport’s very own version of purgatory. However, the roads taken by these two athletes to get to this point are quite different.

Bisping won the third season of the ultimate fighter as a light heavyweight. He went ahead and peeled off a few wins against lower end UFC talent at 205 before losing an extremely close decision to fellow TUF winner Rashad Evans at UFC78. After the loss, Bisping dropped to 185 where the UFC once again hand-picked Bisping lukewarm talent to compete against. Despite this coddling, the UFC eventually had to place Bisping direclty in harm’s way against top tier talent Dan Henderson. Henderson toyed with Bisping before leveling him in the second round with a earth shattering right hand.

Bisping’s middling abilities require that he stay in the same tax bracket at the UFC, but the UFC is always protective of an extremely rare commodity in their only English star. So how is a match made at this point for Bisping? The UFC, while following this formula, is left with a crafty tactic that doesn’t always immediately become apparent. Place Bisping against name stars that are slowly going over the edge to the realm of less relevant in the quickly changing world of MMA. By having Bisping face people like Silva and Kang, it allows the UFC to continue solidifying hype for Bisping while placing him in a slightly lower risk zone.

Don’t get me wrong, Wanderlei Silva is anything but a low risk zone, but his ship has sailed and his pattern is evident. The UFC gives Bisping a fighting chance to at least come up with a solid game plan and some courtesy footage.

Wanderlei Silva has more than earned the hype behind his name in constant hard fought, fast-paced battles. He has been battle tested time and time again and until recently, Silva has passed those tests. However, in the past six outings Silva has lost five times. Other than defeating Keith Jardine last year, Silva has gone the way of the dinosaur. The UFC keeps him around cause he is a fan favorite with an exciting fighting style. Besides that, he is still a dangerous and a talented fighter – a match for anyone at the same weight. Silva’s major deficit is that he has several weaknesses that are well mapped out at this point, weaknesses that he is having a difficult time harnessing.

This match up is interesting because Bisping is very much the UFC’s boy in this fight, to protect their English interest. However, at the same time, if Silva beats  Bisping, then it was to be expected, after all Wanderlei is “The Axe Murderer.” Yet, if Bisping wins this fight he is to be hailed as a world beater within title contention.

I think Silva has everything to lose in this fight. If he does manage to get beaten by Bisping, who is considered to be middling in the talent department, it will show a definite decline in Silva’s skills. This will mean that Silva has stopped being beaten by top tier competition and is now simply being beaten.  We’ve seen it happen before with other high level UFC fighters. Dana isn’t stupid and he would be hard pressed to not see the writing on the wall regarding Silva’s career arc. Bisping is much younger, potentially marketable, and more importantly, UFC raised. He is the UFC’s swiss army knife and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be given the most advantageous possible fights.