Bisping vs Kennedy and Bocek vs Dunham announced for TUF Nations Finale

Bisping and Kennedy finally set to meet in the Octagon

by Ben Heather @benheather

Michael Bisping will finally get the chance to shut up Tim Kennedy when then meet in a 5 round fight which will headline the TUF Nations Finale in April.

For as long as I can remember Tim Kennedy has been calling out Michael Bisping, it didn't matter on the circumstances, whether Bisping was injured or not or even whether Bisping already had a fight lined up. To be fair though, in that time so has pretty much every other middleweight fighter who is trying to make a name for themselves.

Now finally it seems set for the English middleweight contender to get his hands on Tim Kennedy and make him back up all the talk. As Bisping has said himself, a win in this fight will not do much as far as push him towards the title shot he so badly desires but it will finally give him the chance to end all of the abuse he has been receiving from Tim Kennedy. That being said though it would put Bisping on a two fight win streak and with some big match ups in the division already announced could leave him fighting in a number one contender fight later this year.

As far as Kennedy is concerned a win over Michael Bisping will be one of, if not the biggest win of his career. Kennedy joined UFC in 2013 and in his debut picked up a win over Roger Gracie in a lacklustre display. He then got the opportunity to headline the UFC Fight for the Troops 3 event where he was scheduled to face Lyoto Machida before he got pulled from that fight to step in for Bisping and fight Mark Munoz in Manchester. Kennedy then easily defeated Rafael Natal via KO in round 1, but the fight had lost the big name opponent to really push Kennedy up the rankings. Now he will get the shot he has been asking for.

The question that remains to be seen is: Has Tim Kennedy talked himself in to a fight that he can't win?? We will find out in April.

Also announced on the card for the TUF Nations Finale is a lightweight clash between two UFC veterans as Mark Bocek and Evan Dunham are set to battle it out in the Octagon.

Both fighters will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing their last fights. Dunham faced off against Donald Cerrone and saw the Cowboy return to the old form we all know he can bring when he submitted Dunham. Before that fight Dunham also lost to Dos Anjos so a win against Bocek will be crucial if he wants to continue in the UFC.

Bocek did not feature in the Octagon last year and like Dunham lost to Dos Anjos in his last appearance back in 2012.

The TUF Nations Finale takes place on April 16th and will be shown on Fox Sports 1 in the USA but as yet there is no word on whether this card will be available on BT Sports in the UK.