Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping (born 28 February 1979) is an English mixed martial artist who competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion, and The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight Tournament winner. As of 8 October 2015, Bisping is ranked #7 in official UFC middleweight rankings.

Early life

Bisping was born on a British military base in Nicosia, Cyprus, and was raised in Lancashire, UK. There he began training Jujutsu at the age of 8. In 1994, at the age of 15, he competed as an amateur in Britain's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO).

At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training "to pursue real life". Less than a year later, Bisping began training in boxing, kickboxing and karate on the advice of Allan Clarkin, owner of Black Knights Kickboxing, who saw potential in the young fighter. Bisping enjoyed a short but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title. After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time. Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, Bisping was forced to abandon his full-time training for a "real job". Bisping worked at factories, slaughterhouses and demolition companies; he was an upholsterer, postman, tiler, plasterer and salesman.

UFC 51

UFC 51: Super Saturday was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on February 5, 2005 (Super Bowl weekend) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States and Canada, and later released on DVD.

History

Loretta Hunt, news editor for Sherdog.com, reports, "I know for a fact the UFC was considering a female bout between Erica Montoya and the late Shelby Walker a few years ago." About this planned but never realized fight, "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. asked Shelby Walker, "It has been rumored that you may fight Erika Montoya at UFC 51, is there any truth to those rumors?" Walker replied, "Yeah there is truth to those rumors, it has been talked about a lot and when I asked Dana White if he was going to put us on the show he said possibly, so that is where it stands right now. I haven’t heard anything more from this but my biggest dream would be to fight in the UFC."

The event was also to be held in Japan, but UFC President Dana White moved it back to Las Vegas. Headlining the card were fan favorites Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort.

Nate Marquardt

Nathan Joel Marquardt (born April 20, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist competing in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and a three-time Pancrase Middleweight Champion.

Background