UFC 127 Results: Five Opponents Who Make Sense for Michael Bisping's Next Fight

Great Britain’s MMA ambassador, Michael Bisping, won a big fight tonight at UFC 127 when he was able to knock out Jorge Rivera in the second round.

There was much trash-talk between the two fighters before, during, and even after the fight with Bisping yelling at Rivera and his corner after securing the TKO.

It was tough to hear exactly what he said, but Bisping screamed something about Rivera getting too personal and “saying things about his family.”

The fight will be somewhat controversial after Bisping landed a blatantly illegal knee to Rivera’s face when he was on his knees in the first round.

The referee quickly stopped the fight as Rivera fell to his hands and knees with his head between his hands on the ground. Fans looked on as many of us thought he wouldn’t be able to continue.

After a few minutes of recovering, though, Rivera was allowed the fight to continue despite Rivera very obviously being seriously damaged from the knee.

While Rivera made a rush at Bisping right after the stop, he didn’t look the same after that and Bisping picked him apart until the fight was mercifully stopped in the second round with Rivera taking huge damage.

So what’s next for Michael Bisping?

Let’s take a look at the five opponents who would be best suited to face Michael Bisping in his next fight in the middleweight division.

5. Alan Belcher

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MONTREAL- MAY 8: Alan Belcher (R) holds on to Patrick Cote in their middleweight bout at UFC 113 at Bell Centre on May 8, 2010 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

Alan Belcher seems to be one of those fighters who consistently hovers around the top 10 at his division but never really excels into an elite fighter. Sound like anyone to you?

Michael Bisping and Alan Belcher both need a big win to help propel them further towards a potential title shot and each would have a lot to gain with a win over the other.

Bisping has made a career out of punishing upper-mid-level fighters like Belcher but Belcher has turned it on recently in his career, winning four of his last five fights.

In fact, Belcher’s only loss since he was knocked out by Jason Day back in 2008 came in a split decision loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama in an excellent fight that earned Fight of the Night honors and earned both fighters $100,000.

Belcher had back-to-back wins over Patrick Cote and Wilson Gouveia before he was scheduled to face Demian Maia in his first UFC main event.

Unfortunately, he had to undergo emergency eye surgery just weeks before the fight and was only able to begin training again in January.

If Belcher is ready to fight in the next few months, a date with Bisping seems like a real possibility.

4. Demian Maia

Perhaps the greatest middleweight Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in mixed martial arts, Demian Maia has amassed an impressive 14-2 career record in MMA and an 8-2 record in the UFC.

Maia’s only losses came at the hands of then top contender, Nate Marquardt, and current pound-for-pound king and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Outside of those two losses, Maia has dominated the middleweight division with big wins over Mario Miranda, Dan Miller and Chael Sonnen.

Maia brings an interesting stylistic problem for Bisping, as he would be the most dangerous fighter Bisping has ever faced on the ground by far. Bisping would need to keep the fight standing, something which Maia is used to working around and getting past.

3. Chael Sonnen

Perhaps the top contender in the world at 185 pounds is the man who nearly beat Anderson Silva in August 2010, Chael Sonnen.

Sonnen has since gone through a tremendous amount of adversity since the fight, testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and facing charges for money laundering.

He was originally scheduled to fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 128 but had to be taken off the card due to the money-laundering charges.

If Sonnen can get back in the cage sometime soon, it would be great to see him fight Bisping in a battle of two very good trash-talkers. If Bisping thought Rivera was insulting, just wait until he hears from Chael Sonnen!

2. Jorge Rivera

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Bisping of Great Britain punches Jorge Rivera of the USA during their middleweight bout part of at UFC 127 at Acer Arena on February 27, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Many will say that this fight is not enticing due to the way that Bisping dominated the bout tonight at UFC 127, but a rematch with Jorge Rivera isn’t out of the question.

There was a ton of anticipation coming into this fight with all the trash talk going back-and-forth, mostly from Rivera, but the trash talk didn’t stop when the fight was over. Bisping went over to Rivera’s corner, yelling at them as he celebrated his victory.

In the post-fight press conference, we found out that Rivera’s camp is calling for Bisping to be suspended for a combination of his post-fight antics as well as the illegal knee he landed in the first round, one which they claimed to be intentional.

Bisping and Rivera seem to have very real distaste for one another and it would be interesting to see what happens in a rematch without Rivera taking a brutal illegal knee to the face early in the fight.

1. Nate Marquardt

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PORTLAND, OR - AUGUST 29: UFC fighter Nate Marquardt (L) knocks out UFC fighter Demian Maia (R) during their Middleweight bout at UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira at the Rose Garden Arena on August 29, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Gett

The former top middleweight contender, Nate Marquardt took a real skid in 2010 when he lost two of his three fights.

While the losses came at the hands of perhaps the top two contenders in Yushin Okami and Chael Sonnen but that doesn’t really help his case for staying as a top contender himself. In addition, his only win came over Rousimar Palhares, who was recently kicked out of Chute Boxe due to “lack of commitment,” so it’s hard to give that win as much credit as it would normally get.

Still, Marquardt is a big-name fighter who could get back into the title picture with a few wins.

A fight with Michael Bisping would not only be beneficial for Marquardt to get back on track, but it could also be the springboard Bisping needs to get back in there with the top contenders in the division.

Bisping really needs to kick this label of being a “can-crusher” and face some top competition.

Since he won’t likely get Yushin Okami or Anderson Silva, a fight with Marquardt could be the best possible way for him to get to that level in the fastest time.

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