Wanderlei Silva Undergoes Surgery to Become Freaky Space Alien, Can’t Fight Bisping at UFC 105

(Either Wanderlei had surgery or else he's getting a head start on his James Carville costume for this year's Zuffa Halloween party. Photo thanks to Fightlinker.)

It looks like the rumored Michael Bisping-Wanderlei Silva bout won’t be happening at UFC 105 in Manchester, England, and as usual when something bad happens, a plastic surgeon is to blame.  Bisping wrote in a blog post earlier this week that Silva had undergone facial surgery and would be out for the rest of the year.  Judging from the picture above that appears to be the case, and now at least we know what his manager was talking about when he said Silva would be taking some time off to heal his body and mind. 

Not that we can’t understand why a guy like Silva would opt to do something about the several pounds worth of scar tissue in his face, but it does seem like unusual timing.  Not only does this put him on the sidelines for a while, it also seems like money that’s bound to go to waste.  Unless Silva is considering retiring soon or drastically changing his fighting style, he’s probably got more scar tissue coming his way in the near future.

But now that we know for sure it won’t be “The Axe Murderer” who takes on Bisping at UFC 105, we ask yet again, now what?

Since the fight takes place in Bisping’s backyard, and since Bisping is coming off a journey into the spirit world at the hands of Dan Henderson at UFC 100, you have to think that the UFC is not going to put him in way over his head for this fight.  If they are willing to see him get smoked again, it would probably be against an opponent that would draw a crowd and make a show out of it (Wanderlei, for example) and not someone who would be content to wrestle his way to a decision (Chael Sonnen).   

With that in mind, guys like Alan Belcher or Yoshihiro Akiyama might be good choices, though we'd much rather see Akiyama get the honors.  Alessio Sakara is coming off a decision win over Thales Leites, and he’s a guy you can always trust to stand and bang.  Then there’s Denis Kang, who said he needed a break after UFC 97 but has to get back in there some time.

I think we can all agree that whoever the UFC taps to face Bisping, it needs to be someone who’s a credible opponent.  The days of feeding him guys from the bottom of the division for the sake of aiding UK expansion efforts are over.  Once you’ve gone from TUF winner to TUF coach, you’re in with the big boys.  If that leads to getting knocked out in front of your home crowd, so be it.