London's 'UFC Fight Night 83: Silva vs. Bisping' lineup is set

Michael Bisping

The fight card is set for UFC Fight Night 83, which marks the UFC’s return to England.

The event takes place Feb. 27 at The O2 in London. The entire event streams on UFC Fight Pass, though start times haven’t been finalized.

The online event features a fairly significant headliner. Former middleweight champion and one of the sport’s all-time greats, Anderson Silva (33-6 MMA, 16-2 UFC), meets perennial contender Michael Bisping (27-7 MMA, 17-7 UFC) in the featured attraction.

Bisping is currently ranked No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings. Silva, who long reigned as No. 1 during a lengthy title reign from 2006 to 2013, is an honorable mention and just outside the top 15.

Bisping initially was slated to fight No. 10-ranked Gegard Mousasi (37-6-2 MMA, 4-3 UFC), who instead takes on No. 9-ranked Thales Leites (25-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in the co-main event.

Rounding out the main card are welterweights Tom Breese (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) vs. Keita Nakamura (31-6-2 MMA, 1-3 UFC) and bantamweights Brad Pickett (24-11 MMA, 4-6 UFC) vs. Henry Briones (16-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

The full UFC Fight Night 83 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

• Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva
• Thales Leites vs. Gegard Mousasi
• Tom Breese vs. Keita Nakamura
• Henry Briones vs. Brad Pickett

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Wilkinson
• Davey Grant vs. Marlon Vera
• Scott Askham vs. Chris Dempsey
• Arnold Allen vs. Yaotzin Meza
• Krzysztof Jotko vs. Brad Scott
• Rustam Khabilov vs. Norman Parke
• Jarjis Danho vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
• Teemu Packalen vs. Lukasz Sajewski
• Martin Svensson vs. David Teymur

For more on UFC Fight Night 83, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.