Preview: UFC 204 – Bisping vs. Henderson

This Saturday night the UFC returns to the UK for its first PPV event since UFC 120 back in 2010. Just like at UFC 120, the headliner for UFC 204 is Michael Bisping.

Unlike at UFC 120 Bisping is now the middleweight champion of the world … rather than just an average middleweight who happens to be from the UK

Michael Bisping’s opponent on Saturday night is a man who holds a highlight reel KO over the champion back at UFC 100 and has been knocking people out for fun for the majority of his career; a certain Dan Henderson.

Since winning the title from Luke Rockhold, a man who’d previously submitted Bisping in two rounds prior to their rematch on short notice early in 2016, Bisping has made it very clear that he wanted the chance to avenge his highlight reel loss to Dan Henderson by rematching the American in a title fight. Something the UFC have been happy to accommodate him with. Bisping comes into the fight as a 37-year-old arguably hitting his prime, which is highly unusual but after KO’ing Luke Rockhold in his last fight and scraping a win over Anderson Silva prior to that, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Dan Henderson, however, is closer to 50 than 40, which makes this fight seem utterly ludicrous, especially with the amount of middleweight contenders in the division who aren’t booked to fight anyone right now.That said, Henderson is still knocking out middleweights and did so in his last fight against Hector Lombard. And, given his emphatic victory over Bisping, this fight is an easy sell, even if on paper it’s not the most competitive.

Based on both fighters’ performances over the past couple of years, this should be a dominant win for Bisping, as Henderson will start strongly but fade away as the fight draws on, something that has never been said about Bisping who usually grows more confident and performs better in longer fights. The X-Factor is wether Henderson can land the H-Bomb and if Bisping can take it, as he showed against Anderson Silva, he can still be knocked out with a clean shot and Henderson possesses one of the most devastating punches in MMA if it lands clean.

Winner: Bisping via TKO in round three

HERE’S HOW, WHERE AND WHEN YOU CAN WATCH UFC 204 IN THE UK

Belfort vs. Mousasi in the co-main event is an intriguing match up to say the least

Vitor Belfort looks a different human being, let alone a different fighter since his TRT exemption has been removed and has gone 1-2 in his last three fights, with his only win coming against Dan Henderson. Belfort has lost the aura he had about him during the ‘TRT years’ and at 39-years-of-age, it’s hard to see that coming back any time soon. Despite the change in body shape and performance, Belfort still possess knockout power in his hands and feet as well as an underrated ground game so shouldn’t be easily dismissed, as Dan Henderson recently found out.

Gegard Mousasi is 2-1 in his last three fights, but has shown time and time again over the course of his career that he can be hugely inconsistent and frustrating to watch. A brilliant striker but often underwhelming in fights that you expect him to win with ease, Mousasi is a hard fighter to really get behind as you don’t know which version will turn up: the slick and violent striker or the passive, can’t-be-assed fighter who loses via unanimous decision. For Mousasi’s future brain health, I hope it’s the former.

Winner: Mousasi via TKO in round two

OSP gets the opportunity to get back to winning ways

Ovine St. Preux faces the UK’s very own Jimi Manuwa at UFC 204, following his unanimous decision loss to Jon Jones back in April in an interim light-heavyweight title fight. Prior to his loss to Jones, St-Preux had picked up some decent wins over the likes of Rafael Calvacante and Mauricio Rua, but has struggled when he’s had to step up against the top five or six fighters in the division, dropping a submission loss to Glover Teixeira back in August 2015. Luckily for St-Preux, Manuwa is far from being a top five light-heavyweight. That’s not to say he doesn’t have the skills to get there but a number of injuries and averaging a fight every 9-10 months has hampered any progress he might have made.

Manuwa is a devastating striker and has the skills to put St. Preux away, but having not fought for over a year, yet again, will make this a hard night for him, which is a shame.

Winner: St. Preux via decision

Struve has the opportunity to put together a two fight win streak, something he’s not done since he was last in England

It’s easy to forget that Stefan Struve beat Stipe Miocic, the current UFC Heavyweight Champion…

Struve faces Polish heavyweight Daniel Omielañczuk, who himself is riding a three-fight win streak coming in to this one. In Struve’s last fight he crushed Antonio Silva in 16 seconds, which was the beginning of the end of Silva’s career. Struve is a very capable fighter but despite being ridiculously tall, he’s always struggled to use his range well. Whilst he always starts off fighting at range, all too often he gets drawn in to fighting in close, usually to his detriment.

Omielañczuk is a decent heavyweight whose current win streak is, at heavyweight, pretty much championship material. However, Omielañczuk’s opponents have been far from elite heavyweights with Jared Rosholt probably the most high profile name he’s faced thus far in his career. However, with this fight against Struve he’ll get the opportunity to throw his name in to the heavyweight top ten, which is in desperate need of some new faces. If Omeilañczuk can keep Struve against the fence and work from there, then he has a great shot of upsetting the Dutchman. But Struve is the favourite going in to this fight, and based on their comparative skill sets, rightfully so.

Winner: Struve via submission in round three

After two opponents had to pull out with injury, Bektic now faces Doane upon his return from injury

Misread Bektic was originally slated to face Arnold Allen, and then Jeremy Kennedy following an injury to Allen. But after Kennedy also fell victim to injury, Sloane stepped in on five days’ notice. Bektic is coming back having spent over 12 months on the sidelines with an injury. Prior to this, the Bosnian-American looked extremely good at 145lbs, going 3-0 in his UFC run and quietly gaining momentum in a talent rich division.

Doane hasn’t fared as well. After winning his first two fights in the UFC, Doane has gone 0-3 in his last few outings and whilst stepping up on short notice may win him some grace with the UFC, it’s hard to imagine him staying with the company for too much longer should he lose.

Winner: Bektic via TKO in round three

Fights to watch on the undercard: Ian Entwistle vs. Rob Font, Danny Roberts vs. Mike Perry, Lukas Sajewski vs. Marc Diakiese