When my co-worker, Miguel Lopez, approached me Thursday shortly after I had arrived at the Press-Telegram sports department, I knew there was some big news regarding mixed martial arts. Sure enough, he told me that UFC had set its main event for UFC 77: Validation, which takes place on November 17 in Newark, New Jersey.
I began to think big and rattled off a few:
Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva? ... No.
Did they move Serra vs. Hughes to N.J.? ... Nope.
Hmmmmm.
I was quickly running out of ideas.
Miguel stood there with a slight grin on his face, and, right then, I knew I was never going to guess it.
"I give up, dude. What is it?"
Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping.
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Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping?
Wow.
OK, don't get me wrong, I think Evans-Bisping is an interesting matchup between two talented young fighters. I also know that UFC was trying desperately to put together a rematch between Evans and Tito Ortiz. But, Ortiz, either because of a rumored back injury or money squabbles with Dana White and the Ferttita Bros., refused to accept the fight.
So, the new main event consists of two guys who were less than impressive in their last fights. In Evans' fight against Ortiz, he seemed very passive, almost overwhelmed by the moment until the late moments of the fight. Only a point deduction against Ortiz (for grabbing the fence) kept Evans from losing the fight.
Meanwhile, Bisping is coming off of a "victory" over Matt Hamill. I used quotation marks because many observers felt Hamill, who is far from being a seasoned fighter, defeated the talented Brit. But the judging favored Bisping, who was fighting in his home country of England.
The one thing UFC does have in its favor to possibly pull in a good buyrate is Bisping came off as a huge heel (wrestling jargon for "bad guy") after his controversial win. Instead of acknowledging the tough fight, he remained overly cocky, to the point where fans who wildly cheered him minutes before, booed him during his post-fight interview.
Add to that, Evans comes off as extremely likeable and you have a good mix of personalities in the main event. But, UFC has its work cut out for it. The organization will have to do a good job of interviews, countdown specials and highlight videos to get the casual fans interested in forking over $40 for the pay-per-view.
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