Props: Echo.co.uk

Quoteworthy:

“The British fans have always given me unbelievable support and I’ve never lost at home, so I am looking to help make this another special night for British MMA. Akiyama is a very dangerous guy. He strikes very well, he has power, and he will keep coming at you. He is very strong with his judo takedowns, and I will have to train seriously hard to come up for an answer for those. But I think that if I set a fast, hard pace in the first round, that by the third I will have taken over and will be in a position to finish him. Akiyama will obviously be looking to do the same thing – that is the way he always fights – and I am already spending my ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus in my head.“

Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 champion Michael Bisping returns to the United Kingdom where he remains undefeated with intent to vault himself into the middleweight title hunt with a big win over International star Yoshihiro Akiyama. "The Count" rebounded from a unanimous decision loss to Wanderlei Silva "Down Under" back on February 20 to outwork the venerable Dan Miller and take all three judge's scorecards at UFC 114 last May. Bisping is 3-2 in his last five fights with losses to Silva and Dan Henderson. In addition to Miller, the Brit also stopped Denis Kang at UFC 105 and decisioned Chris Leben way back at UFC 89. Is he championship material? Or do we reserve judgment for the "Sexyama" fight? And does anyone have them as front-runners for "Fight of the Night?"