UFC 78 will feature a light heavyweight bout between “The Ultimate Fighter 2” heavyweight winner Rashad Evans (10-0-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) and “The Ultimate Fighter 3” light heavyweight winner Michael Bisping (14-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), according to UFC.com.
The fight will likely headline the Nov. 17 event, which takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The event originally was slated to feature a main event between Evans and Tito Ortiz. Ortiz is currently in a contract renegotiation, but it’s not immediately known if that played a part in Bisping getting the fight instead. Evans, after all, fought to Ortiz to a draw at UFC 73 in July, and at the time, UFC President Dana White said that an immediate rematch would be booked, specifically saying that neither fighter would be booked for another event until the rematch took place.
That, of course, no longer appears to the be the case.
While a few possible fights had been rumored for UFC 78, the Bisping vs. Evans booking came out of nowhere.
Just last month, Bisping defeated fellow castmate Matt Hamill with a hugely controversial split-decision victory. After the UFC 75 fight, White also stated that Hamill and Bisping would be booked for an immediate rematch. A knee injury suffered by Hamill looked as though it might delay the bout, but in a recent announcement on his official Web site, Hamill said the prodecure was minor and that he wanted to fight Bisping at UFC 79 on Dec. 29.
Instead, Bisping will take on Evans. The two fighters have emerged as two of the top talents to come out of Spike TV’s reality series.
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