Michael Bisping isn’t sitting around feeling sorry for himself.
In a stunning move (after a tumultuous week in mixed martial arts), former middleweight champion Michael Bisping has agreed to step in as a short notice replacement for Anderson Silva and face Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of UFC Shanghai. Ariel Helwani first reported the news.
Bisping was defeated by the returning Georges St-Pierre last Saturday night in New York at UFC 217. It was speculated that he would compete a final time in England sometime during next year, but it seems the Brit is looking to get right back into the cage. UFC Shanghai takes place Nov. 25, the Saturday after next.
The original headline was set to be Silva vs. Gastelum (itself already a re-scheduled contest), but yesterday news broke that Silva had failed an out-of-competition USADA test. It has yet to be confirmed what the banned substance was that caused his test to pop.
Bisping is currently ranked #2 in the middleweight division to Gastelum’s #9.
