Michael Bisping, who fights out of the now-famous Wolfslair MMA Academy in Liverpool, England, first began fighting professionally for various MMA promotions in his home country, including Cage Rage, where he ran his professional record to an easy 10-0 with 10 finishes before competing on The Ultimate Fighter 3 and winning the light heavyweight tournament for his UFC contract. Bisping won two more UFC fights by TKO before scraping by Matt Hamill in a very close and controversial Split Decision in 2007. He then lost the first fight of his professional career when he came up short in another Split Decision to future champion “Sugar” Rashad Evans.

After the Evans fight, Bisping dropped down to 185 lbs., winning three straight fights with his trademark relentless, swarming style. On his biggest stage to that point, however, and following months of back-and-forth trash-talking, Bisping suffered a setback when he was knocked out in stunning and dramatic fashion by Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in July of 2009. The loss to Henderson led to questions of whether or not Bisping deserved to remain the face of U.K. mixed martial arts, but he has since gone an impressive 3-1 in the organization. The most recent of these was a main event unanimous decision victory over judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama at the UFC 120 event in London, England. On a night when many hometown fighters were defeated, Bisping saved the day by outpointing a game Akiyama in a bout that won fight of the night honors.

Primarily a kickboxer, Bisping combines excellent foot movement, striking accuracy, and an underrated grappling and submission game to great effect inside the cage, having defeated notable UFC fighters such as Eric Schafer, Chris Leben, and Denis Kang during his time with the promotion. Bisping is tenacious and sets a high pace, and at his best moves seamlessly between the standing and ground games to disorient his opponents. Although some fans believe he has a suspect chin after the devastating loss to Henderson and another to cage legend Wanderlei Silva (by Unanimous Decision), Bisping continues to compete on a regular basis in the hopes of realizing his dream of becoming the first UFC champion from the U.K.