Michael Bisping to defend title in Manchester at UFC 204
Today the UFC announced (finally) that Michael Bisping will defend his middleweight title against Dan Henderson in Manchester on October 8th in Manchester at UFC 204.
Along with this main event, 6 other fights were announced for the event:
“Dutchman Gegard Mousasi (39-6; fighting out of Leiden, Netherlands) will meet Vitor Belfort (25-12; fighting out of Rio de Janerio, Brazil). Mousasi won his last two bouts against Thales Leites and Thiago Santos in London and Las Vegas respectively. Incidentally, Belfort recorded his last win against title challenger Dan Henderson in November of last year and sits two places ahead of Mousasi in the middleweight rankings at No.4.
Britain’s own No.9 ranked light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa (15-2; fighting out of London England) will face No.6 rankedOvince Saint Preux (19-8; fighting out of Tennessee, USA) who got his title shot against Jon Jones for the interim light heavyweight belt earlier this year, but narrowly failed to secure the belt.
Heavyweights Stefan Struve (31-8; fighting out of Beverwijk, Netherlands) and Ruslan Magomedov (14-1; fighting out of Dagestan, Russia) will meet in Manchester. Ranked No.14 and no.15 respectively, the bout is sure to be a display of skill as Magomedov tests his striking technique against kickboxing specialist Struve, who has height and reach advantages at seven feet tall.
Additionally, jiu-jitsu specialists Adriano Martins (28-7; fighting out of Manaus, Brazil) and Leonardo Santos (15-4; fighting out of Rio de Janerio, Brazil) will also step into the Octagon® together in an all-Brazilian lightweight bout.
After suffering an injury, Brad Pickett (26-11; fighting out of London, England) was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout in Hamburg, Germany. Pickett will now face Brazilian Iuri Alcantara (37-7, 1NC; fighting out of Soure, Brazil) in front of a home crowd in Manchester in this bantamweight clash.
Finally, after a win against Marlon Vera in London earlier this year, Brit Davey Grant (10-2; fighting out of Bishop Auckland, England) will return to action on October 8 against Polish featherweight Damian Stasiak (10-2; fighting out of Lodz, Poland).”
With this being a numbered UFC card on pay per view, the time of the event in the UK will be a little different
“Given the huge global interest in such an exciting main event and card stacked full of international athletes, the event is scheduled to start at 11:00 p.m. locally with the main card due to start at approximately 3:00 a.m. to cater for as many fans as possible to watch live.”
Tickets for this landmark event go on sale to the general public on September 9 via Eventim and Ticketmaster. UFC Fight Club members receive access to tickets on Wednesday 7 September and UFC newsletter recipients on Thursday 8. Each sale will start at 10:00 a.m. BST.
To register interest for the event visit www.ufc.com/manchester
