On August 23rd the UFC returns to Macau, China with a Fight Night card headlined by Middleweights Cung Le and Michael Bisping. With the fight less than three weeks away, the books have installed Bisping (-300) as the favorite, with the comeback on Cung Le at (+220).
That is a lot of respect for Bisping to be getting at the books, because purely from a technical stand point, on paper, Bisping does not have a good style to match up with Le. Bisping however, is 2-3 over the course of his last 5 fights, and despite his bombastic stance that the Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen should be discounted because of their PED use, it does not hide the fact that he has consistently failed to break through to the next level.
Meanwhile, Le has been away from the UFC cage for almost 2 years now, but his last 2 outings were wins. More than that, this is his second fight in China and Le is certainly thinking about what other possibilities to make money fighting may exist in that bountiful market. Bisping is a well traveled, well seasoned veteran but still a trip to China can come with it’s incumbent surprises, and Le will be much better suited to navigating those waters.
In the ring too, Le is dominant style wise, unless he shows his age. But his compact style is very economic, and it should function well for him as he ages. Bisping is a poor wrestler who relies on his overall toughness and his ability to bang it out with people as his principal tools in a fight. It didnt work for him against Henderson, Silva and Belfort, and Le is as technically proficient a striker as any of those guys.
Bisping is not going to want to be in the clinches with Le either, as Le’s knees and elbows would come into play. And finally Bisping’s wrestling is probably not good enough to get Le to the ground, as Le’s takedown defense is one of the key’s to him forcing his game plan on an opponent.
This may be a good time to bet Le, because the UFC is being careful with matching him up with a powerhouse, but has been looking for bigger names on the downside of their career like Rich Franklin. Welcome to the scrap pile, Mr Bisping, your title shot never happened.
