Late last week, it was announced that an injury had forced Gunnar Nelson out his bout with Dong Hyun Kim, the planned headliner for the UFC’s return to Belfast, Northern Ireland. This unfortunately left the UFC scrambling for a viable main event on just a few weeks’ notice.
Though it can’t have been easy, the organization was able to produce a compelling replacement main event. This new headliner will see top-5 middleweight Gegard Mousasi attempt to avenge arguably the toughest loss of his career against the hot-and-cold Uriah Hall.
Despite the significant test in front of him, however, Mousasi has his eyes set on a middleweight title shot down the road. And though it’s impossible to say who of the UFC’s top middleweights will wear the belt by the time Mousasi earns that chance, he’s quite certain how he’d fair against the divisions current champion, Michael Bisping.
“I think if that fight would happen, I would be favored,” Mousasi said in interview on Fight Society podcast. “I’m not lying. So people expect me to win that fight. Style wise, he’s perfect for me. He had a very close fight with Thales Leites, it could have gone either way. I dominated Thales Leites. He went five hard rounds with Dan Henderson…”
“I think matchup wise or style wise, I think he would have a very hard time or I would just knock him out or I would punish him for five rounds,” Mousasi added.
Though Bisping emerged the victor at the end of his five-round war with Henderson, he was the far more damaged-looking man as the judges’ scorecards were read. If he were to fight Bisping for five rounds, Mousasi assured the British veteran would look even worse by the time the final bell chimed.
“If I didn’t put them away, they looked like squashed tomatoes after the fight,” Mousasi said of his previous opponents. “Vitor Belfort didn’t look good. Thales Leites didn’t look good. Ilir Latifi didn’t look good. They’re not going to look pretty after the fight, whoever it is. I beat them up or I get the finish.”
How do you think a fight between Michael Bisping and Gegard Mousasi would go! Sound off, PENN Nation!