UFC 105 Picks: Denis Kang vs Michael Bisping

With one huge right hand shot from Dan Henderson at UFC 100, Michael Bisping was down for “The Count” and knocked down a few pegs in the UFC’s middleweight division.

Suddenly, the British star and former Ultimate Fighter TV show winner had given fuel to all of the critics who said he was an overrated, pampered product of the UFC’s marketing machine and not a real contending fighter.

But despite the crushing knockout loss, Bisping is back up and ready to go five events later with his psyche presumably intact for a big-time battle with intriguing prospect Denis Kang in his home country.

At least that’s the hope for those decide to bet on Bisping, who comes in as a slight underdog to Kang at -105 to -125 against the favorite Kang.

Bisping has never been  labeled a hard-nosed brawler of sorts like some of the other guys in his weight class like Nate Marquardt or Henderson, however, and fighting a smart, cautious fight while staying out of trouble actually plays into Bisping’s strengths of hand a foot speed, quickness, and precision boxing.

The trouble with that philosophy is that Bisping often leaves things in the hands of the judges and that can often be a dicey proposition for bettors, even though Bisping has gotten some kind decisions including his infamous win over Matt Hamill.

As for Kang, he is a punishing striker with much more power than Bisping, and he also backs his stand-up skills up with a very good repertoire on the ground. Kang is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has fought some tough competition in Japan. He won’t be intimidated by Bisping, not that very many people are, nor will he be nervous due to the energy of a riled up British crowd.

Since Kang has a better overall arsenal of attacks for finishing the fight and the odds aren’t really that much better for Bisping, it makes a lot of sense to throw some coin on him this time around at UFC 105.

Bisping may be the bigger name, but the Henderson fight exposed him in some ways and it’s up to him to win the trust back of the betting community.

The pick: Denis Kang (-125) by unanimous decision.