Michael Bisping has been a member of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster since he won the third season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) all the way back in June 2006. If you had said then that it would take until 2013 for him to earn a shot at a championship, in any division, you would have been called crazy.

But that's exactly what has happened.

Bisping now has a clear path to Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, according to UFC President Dana White, who revealed the following at the UFC 155: "Dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2" post-fight press conference last night (Dec. 29) in Las Vegas.

"If Bisping wins, he’ll get the shot."

That's in reference to "The Count's" upcoming showdown against Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC on FX 7 on Jan. 19, 2013, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With a victory, the British bad boy will have won six of his past seven fights, with his lone loss coming on an extremely close decision to Chael Sonnen, who went on to lose to Silva one fight later.

Bisping's path was cleared by Chris Weidman's shoulder injury that will keep him out of action until May of next year at the earliest. He wants to "shut Bisping up" upon his return but Bisping may be busy attending to other, far more important matters.

Like fighting the pound-for-pound king.

First, he has to get past Belfort. If he does, will he deserve a shot at Silva and the middleweight title? Or do you Maniacs think someone else should jump to the head of the line?

For more on UFC on FX 7 click here.