UFC on Tuesday announced the first three bouts of its upcoming UFC Fight Night London card.
UFC Fight Night 83 marks the promotion’s first trip to London in two years. It also marks No. 7 ranked middleweight Michael Bisping‘s (27-7) first fight on his home turf since 2010. He faces No. 8 ranked Gegard Mousasi (37-6-2) on the card. Although the line-up is far from set, UFC officials told MMAWeekly.com that Bisping vs. Mousasi is not expected to be the London main event.
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Bisping and Mousasi have both long been considered among the Top 10 middleweight fighters in the world, but try as they might, neither has been able to find his way into a UFC middleweight title fight.
Bisping most recently fought in July, defeating Thales Leites by split decision, which gave him back-to-back wins for the first time since 2011. He was supposed to have fought Robert Whittaker at UFC 193 in November in Australia, but an elbow injury forced him out of the fight.
Now ready to return, he’ll face Mousasi, who had his momentum derailed by Uriah Hall in September in Japan. A former Dream and Strikeforce champion, Mousasi has yet to find the path to a UFC title fight.
The other two bouts announced on Tuesday include England’s Mike Wilkinson (9-1) vs. Finland’s Makwan Amirkhani (12-2) and Northern Ireland’s Norman Parke (22-4-1) vs. Russian Rustam Khabilov (17-3).
UFC Fight Night London takes place on Feb. 27 at the O2 Arena. Tickets go on sale Friday, Dec. 4 at 12 p.m. GMT.
