A middleweight bout between Michael Bisping (19-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) reportedly will be part of October's UFC 120 event in London.
Fighters Only first reported that at least one fighter has signed for the content, and it'll serve as the night's main event.
MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed the matchup with a source close to the event. A previously reported welterweight bout between Dan Hardy and Carlos Condit takes co-headliner status.
UFC 120 takes place Oct. 16 at The O2 in London and airs via same-day delay on Spike TV.
British fighter Bisping fights for the sixth time on a UFC-England card. After a high-profile loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in 2009 that cost him a title shot, Bisping earned a TKO win over Denis Kang, suffered a decision loss to Wanderlei Silva, and most recently, scored a decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 114 to get back into title contention.
The victory over Miller was vital for Bisping and allowed him to avoid the first back-to-back losses of his career.
Akiyama, meanwhile, enters the bout fresh off a loss to late replacement Chris Leben at UFC 116. Akiyama originally was slated to fight Silva, but his rib injury led to the booking of Leben, who earned a victory over Aaron Simpson just two weeks prior at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale. After splitting the first two rounds with his opponent, Leben found himself on his back late in the third. But he kept a steady stream of punches, and after admittedly ignoring the advice of his corner, Leben capitalized on an opening and pulled off a stunning triangle-choke submission with just 20 seconds remaining in the round.
The loss was Akiyama's first since a KO defeat to Jerome LeBanner. That fight took place in 2005 and was just Akiyama's second pro bout.
