UFC 89 Set To Invade England

On Saturday, October 18th The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to invade The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England for "UFC 89." UFC 89 looks to come on strong with another star-studded managery of fighters and a Pay-Per-View worthy fight card. So what makes UFC 89 different?... It's FREE!!! That's right folks, UFC 89 is coming to you absolutely free on Spike TV at 9:00pm ET/PT.

Headlining the night will be a middleweight match-up between England's own Michael "The Count" Bisping, as he gets set to take on the dangerous striker, Chris "The Crippler" Leban. Both fighters are former TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) cast members, Leban was part of TUF Season 1 and Bisping was on TUF Season 3.

Born in 1979, Bisping took an early interest in martial arts, beginning his training in a traditional form of jujutsu under Paul Lloyd Davies at the age of 8. At the age of 15, he competed in England's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA. At 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order to "pursue real life".

Less than one year later the need to train and compete drew Bisping back, this time training in kickboxing and karate at the urging of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym. Bisping enjoyed a short but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title, and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title twice.

He again gave up combat sports from a "real job", working in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer, a postman, a tiler, a plasterer, a double-glazing door salesman, and also a fairly successful DJ around the north-west club scene.

Bisping began to miss fighting and training and in 2003, he tracked down his old coach Paul Lloyd Davies, who was coaching at Master Salahs MMA gym in Manchester. It was there that Bisping first learned about the sport of mixed martial arts. Bisping made his professional MMA debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on April 4, 2004 against Steve Matthews, who he beat by way of an armbar submission in 0:38 of the first round. By only his third match, he had become the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion by TKO'ing Mark Epstein at Cage Rage 7. He went on to defend his championship by defeating Epstein in a rematch at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified him as one of the top light heavyweights in England.

Since defeating Josh "Bring the Pain" Haynes to win the TUF 3 Finale, Bisping has gone on to earn victories over Eric Schafer, Elvis Sinosic, Matt Hamill, Charles McCarthy, and Jason Day. His only loss inside the octagon came at the hands of "Sugar" Rashad Evans during UFC 87 in November, 2007.

After his loss, he announced his decision to drop down from the 205lb. light heavyweight division and fight as a 185lb. middleweight. Bisping already has two straight wins in the middleweight division, McCarthy & Day, and looks for his third on October 18th against Chris Leban.

In the co-main event, Brandon "The Truth" Vera (who has also recently changed weight divisions from heavyweight to light heavyweight) looks to go to war with Rashad Evans teammate Keith "Dean of Mean" Jardine. Vera is coming off a unanimous decision win over the tough wrestler and former IFL standout, Reese Andy at UFC Fight Night 14. Jardine had a huge win over Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell at UFC 76 on September 22, 2007, but his most recent fight was a disappointing loss to Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva during UFC 84. Vera will certainly look to keep his winning ways going, while Jardine looks for redemption with a win over Vera.

Don't miss UFC 89, October 18th at 9:00pm ET/PT on Spike TV

- Complete UFC 89 Fight Card -

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leban
Brandon Vera vs. Keith Jardine
Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
David Baron vs. Jim Miller
Per Eklund vs. Samy Schiavo