UFC 159 Preview: Alan Belcher vs Michael Bisping Preview

You can see BettingSports preview for the main event at UFC 159, Chael Sonnen vs Jon Jones, HERE.

Both Alan Belcher and Miachael Bisping are names on the tips of everyone’s tongues when a discussion of the best middleweight fighters in the world come up.  Both these fighters will be looking to get a big high profile win at UFC 159 tonight so they can get their names into the title pictures.

Alan Belcher has an impressive overall MMA record of 18-7.  However, those seven losses all came in the UFC.  He only has nine wins in the UFC.  There are a multitude excuses for his lackluster UFC record, but the fact his he has already lost to some of the top middleweights in the UFC.  After a 17 month hiatus due to an injury, Belcher returned to win two straight only to lose to top middleweight Yushin Okami for the second time in his career.  He will now look to defeat Bisping to get back on track.

Belcher has displayed  a major grappling weakness against Okami.  He is going to want to win this fight on his fight, but he will need to keep in mind that Bisping is also a dangerous striker.  If Belcher takes his time and paces himself, he will be able to simply wear down the controversial Brit and then seize an opportunity when it presents itself.

Bisping only has five losses in both his overall and UFC MMA career.  Most of those losses came against men who would go on to fight for the title or go on to become a champion.  He has lost fights to such big names as Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen and Vito Belfort.  In all his losses Bisping looked impressive and did not simply get dominated by his opponent, unless of course you count the infamous KO he received from Henderson.  Bisping needs to get past Belcher and finally win a fight with a title shot on the line to show he can get the job done.

Bisping is a solid striker, though he is not known for his explosive KOs.  He will simply need to try and spar with Belcher without making to mistake of letting Belcher come back at him.  Bisping endurance is a thing of legend and could simply carry this fight to the very end and win by decision.

The money line at Bovada favors Bisping with a -175 money line.  Belcher’s money line is at +145.  You can catch the fight tonight on pay-per-view.