The UFC’s Scottish debut in Glasgow at UFC Fight Night 72 on July 18th finally has a main and co-main event of the evening with two new fights being announced for the show which will air via FOX Sports 1.
Taking on headline duties will be the UK’s Michael Bisping who faces Brazil’s Thales Leites in a battle of top 10 middleweights.
Currently ranked No.9 in the division, Bisping will be hoping to string together back-to-back wins for the first time since 2011 and is coming off a unanimous decision victory against CB Dollaway just a month ago at UFC 186.
In the past few years Bisping has also defeated the likes of Brian Stann, Cung Le and Alan Belcher, but come unstuck against a string of top contenders such as Luke Rockhold, Tim Kennedy, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.
Leites is one of the division’s in-form fighters at this moment in time with five wins in the Octagon so far since returning to the UFC in the summer of 2013.
Despite that impressive run Leites is still situated one place behind Bisping at No.10 on the rankings, perhaps a reflection of the competition he’s faced compared to the Brit, with his biggest wins so far being over Tim Boetsch and Francis Carmont.
Meanwhile, UFC Fight Night 72’s co-main event has also been announced, featuring former TUF winner Ross Pearson going up against Evan Dunham.
Pearson earned a KO win over Sam Stout last time out and also has a TKO victory over former title challenger Gray Maynard on his recent record, but in-between times has also suffered a stoppage loss against Al Iaquinta and a highly controversial split decision defeat against Diego Sanchez which has kept him from obtaining a spot on the lightweight rankings.
His opponent Dunham ended a three-fight losing skid with a unanimous decision win over Rodrigo Damm in January and this fight with Pearson is a big opportunity for him to really re-establish himself as a credible contender at 155lbs.
