Michael Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch Confirmed for UFC 149

The official UFC 148 fight card was released earlier this week with one notable absence: the middleweight showdown between Michael Bisping and Tim Boetsch.

The bout was removed from the UFC 148 event in Las Vegas, and has now been added to the UFC 149 fight card on July 21 in Calgary, UFC officials confirmed to MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.

The UFC recently had to shuffle the deck, moving the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch from UFC 147 in Brazil to UFC 148 in Las Vegas. Along with the Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber bantamweight title fight, that put two championship bouts on the UFC 148 card.

With that even suddenly top-heavy, Bisping and Boetsch were moved to the UFC 149 fight card in support of the featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Erik Koch.

Bisping vs. Boetsch in a pivotal match-up in the UFC’s middleweight division with both fighters currently sitting in the top ten.

Most recently, Bisping lost a razor close decision to current No. 1 contender Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2 in January, while Boetsch had one of the most compelling comebacks in UFC history as he knocked out former title contender Yushin Okami at UFC 144 in February.

Follow @KenPishna on Twitter or e-mail Ken Pishna.
For more UFC News and UFC Rumors, follow MMAWeekly.com on Twitter and Facebook.