UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben Preview

The UFC is back in action Saturday night as SpikeTV presents “UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben” for the public’s consumption.

The event, as the name indicates, will feature a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben.

But before I get to that, let’s break down the rest of the main card bouts.

The first two bouts have foregone conclusions: Chris Lytle will beat Paul Taylor in a slugfest and Marcus Davis will knock out Paul Kelly, continuing his domination of inexperienced English fighters.

In a good light-heavyweight bout, Sokoudjou will face Luis Arthur Cane.

This is interesting on a lot of levels. Can Sokoudjou be the same fighter who brutally knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona last year? Will Cane test Sokoudjou’s chin?

Cane put the stamp on Jason Lambert in June. It was an impressive performance. He knocked him down about five times before finishing him. Sokoudjou rebounded from his loss to Lyoto Machida with a TKO win over Kazuhiro Nakamura in May.

Both fighters have proven to be solid strikers, but neither have had their chins tested in the UFC. I think this will be the fight to prove it. Cane does have more experience than Sokoudjou, but Sokoudjou has suffered a quick TKO loss prior in his career.

I was very impressed by Cane against Lambert and I see that trend continuing as he knocks out Sokoudjou in the second round.

Too much, too quick for Sokoudjou.

In the co-featured bout, it’s light-heavyweights again as Brandon Vera battles Keith Jardine.

Vera is coming off two losses and an unimpressive win while Jardine was stomped by Wanderlei Silva in May — making this a critical bout as both man are looking to make a name in the 205-pound division.

Jardine has a herky-jerky style and Vera has slick kickboxing skills.

The thing with Jardine is this: If you can blitz him early, you can put him out (see the Silva fight and the awesome May 2007 encounter with Houston Alexander). Vera has to do this to be successful. He can’t sit back and let Jardine hit leg kick after leg kick. He has to come at him fast.

Jardine, on the other hand, is usually successful if he can get into the fight (see his wins over Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell). Once he gets into a rhythm, he has a difficult style to combat.

The stakes are high in this fight, but I think Vera’s skills are too good. That, and the fact he’s cut to 205 before, lead me to believe he’ll win by head kick KO in the first round. And for the first time since Nov. 2006, we’ll get to see the trademark Brandon Vera Crab Walk victory celebration.

The main event is a critical middleweight bout, as Bisping and Leben battle to see who will continue to the climb the ladder at 185 pounds.

Bisping has been a man since dropping to middleweight, while Leben has been a different fighter in his last two fights, showing a changed style that has paid off with knockout wins over Terry Martin (third round) and Alessio Sakara (first round).

To make things simple, I don’t think Bisping will be able to stand with Leben.

When thinking about this fight, all I could think of was Elvis Sinosic, jobber to the stars, knocking Bisping down in their fight in April 2007.

If Sinosic knocked him down, imagine what someone who punches like Leben can do.

Now, I’m not saying Bisping can’t win this fight — he can in fact. I just think Leben striking is too good and too powerful for Bisping, who’s never fought someone who hits as hard as Leben.

I’d be surprised if there was much ground work done in this fight. These two will be content to bang it out in the center of the cage. The prize? Potentially a fight down the line with middleweight wrecking machine (and champion) Anderson Silva.

Oh yeah, a great incentive to win.

On the undercard, I’ve got Jim Miller, David Bielkheden, Sam Stout, Per Eklund, Akihiro Gono and Shane Carwin.