For someone as talented as Paulo Filho, his personal life seems to be eating away at him. This isn’t the first fight that Filho has struggled to make weight for; and there’s no sign of this unfortunate trend stopping anytime soon. Impact FC should count its blessings that Filho showed up at all, as it’s also become a trend for him to back out of fights. Whether or not his reasons for cancelling a fight are justified is debatable, but one thing is for sure: the risk is beginning to overshadow the reward when it comes to trying to book Paulo Filho.

I hate to get all preachy, but I think Filho really needs to get his life together. All I have to go on is rumors, which point to everything from family problems to heavy drug use as the cause for Filho’s recent, bizarre antics. Whatever it is, it needs to stop soon. For all his talent, Filho is digging his own grave and burning every bridge in sight with his actions. And that’s the truly sad part about all this: Paulo Filho is still one of the most gifted middleweight fighters in the world, but he’s squandering that gift.

For all his personal problems, Filho’s fighting ability has managed to pull him through every single one of his post-“breakdown” fights except for his loss to current UFC Middleweight Contender Chael Sonnen. Even fighting at a jacked-up Heavyweight (Filho’s last fight had him weighing in at 218 pounds), Filho has won four straight fights heading into his bout with Kang. Almost all of those four fights have seen Filho show up in a sorry state of mind and in lackluster physical condition, only to pull through based on pure talent alone. This unfortunate trend won’t be able to last much longer.

Trying to survive on talent alone will result in Paulo Filho’s further downfall. While his run in the UFC was lackluster, Denis Kang is more than a match for the current incarnation of Paulo Filho. It will only be a matter of time before Filho’s phoned-in performances and bizarre actions outside the ring/cage/etc. catch up to him in the same way they did when he fought and was completely dismantled by Chael Sonnen. You can only survive on talent alone for so long, and Filho’s time is rapidly running out.

And what do you think, fans and friends? Will Filho ever pull himself out of this rut, and what do you think the future holds for him?

“I’m absolutley over the moon,” an ecstatic Bisping told his hometown crowd.  “This is my life.  It really hurts me that people don’t give me the respect I deserve.”

At the beginning of round two, Bisping scored a single-leg takedown to put Kang on his back.  Bisping cut up Kang’s face and staggered Kang with a relentless ground’n'pound.  The exchange set-up the final moments of the round when Bisping slammed Kang and reignited his g’n'p attack.  Kang rolled into turtle position; and, Bisping added knees to his offense until referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in to grant Kang a reprieve.

Kang had wasted a first round in which he floored Bisping with a compact overhand right as Bisping lunged forward to attack.  Kang dove into Bisping’s guard and passed to side control, but Bisping regained half guard.  The pair shuffled through guards for the entire first round and Kang only landed a right hand and an elbow, nearly getting caught in an armbar.

After his win, Bisping admitted, “I’ve got a long way to go.  Bear with me guys.  I’ve got a long way to go.”

As speculated Monday, the UFC welterweight contender matchup between American “Quick” Mike Swick (14-2) and Brit “Outlaw” Dan Hardy (22-6) was officially announced for Manchester.

The co-main event pits Brit “Count” Michael Bisping (17-2), returning from a highlight reel knockout loss to “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (25-7) at UFC 100 in Las Vegas in July, across the Octagon from Canadian Denis Kang (34-11-1).

The rest of the card includes:

Matt Brown (10-7) v “Lightning” James Wilks (4-2)
“Real Deal” Ross Pearson (14-5-1) v Aaron Riley (28-11-1)
Terry Etim (13-2) v Shannon Gugerty (12-3)
“Relentless” Paul Taylor (10-5-1) v. “Hitman” John Hathaway (10-0)
“Slick” Nick Osipczak (5-0) v Matthew Riddle (3-0)
Alexander Gustafsson (7-0) v Jared Hamman (2-1)
Andre Winner (10-3-1) v “Crazy Cuban” Rolando Delgado (6-4-1)

He also confirmed “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (15-3), twin brother of Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked heavyweight and former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight champion “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1), has joined the UFC light heavyweight division.

Furthermore, White confirmed UFC 105 in Manchester 14 November would be co-headlined by a middleweight matchup between Brit “Count” Michael Bisping (17-2) and Canadian Denis Kang (34-11-1).

Kang last fought at Raw Combat in October and TKO’d UFC veteran “Beastman” Marvin Eastman (15-9-1) at 0:46 of round one.

He recently signed a four-bout deal with the UFC.

Belcher won a split decision over “Short Fuse” Ed Herman (14-7) in September at Fight Night 15.

The PRIDE and DREAM veteran had spoken with the UFC in the past but declined to sign a contract then.

Kang explained his reasons for signing at this time: “Honestly I was a little bit sick and tired of traveling so far to Japan after a while, you know what I mean?

“And also the contract, the negotiation went very well with the UFC this time, better than before.  That was definitely a big factor right there.”

An ATT representative said in a statement, “Denis has always expressed a desire to fight in the UFC and we are pleased we were able to help him get this deal done. Denis will bring a lot of excitement to the 185-pound division!”

Kang fought at Raw Combat 25 October in Calgary, where he KO’d UFC vet “Beastman” Marvin Eastman (15-9-1) 46 seconds into the first round.

Fighters.com caught up with Mousasi as he trained for his second round match-up versus Korean judoka Dong Sik Yoon (4-4) at DREAM.4 Sunday.

Fighters.com: For those in North America unfamiliar with you, how long have you been a full-time fighter?

Gegard Mousasi: I have been fighting since the age of 15 with boxing and from the age of 19 I have been a full-time fighter.

Fighters.com: Have you had any other jobs or only fighting?

Gegard Mousasi: I work as a bouncer, but have also worked as a postman.

Fighters.com: Are you married? Have a girlfriend? Children?

Gegard Mousasi: No. No. No.

Fighters.com: For you, is fighting a job, a sport, or an art?

Gegard Mousasi: It’s a job, but also something that I like. So, it’s also a sport for me.

Fighters.com:Tell me about your team, Jurojin, and trainer, Ino Alberga. How did you come to train with them and why do you stay with them?

Gegard Mousasi:My friend told me that [Alberga] was teaching kickboxing; so, I went to try it out and and liked it. And, his son taught me the ground game; but, I train somewhere else now.

Fighters.com:In April at DREAM.2, when Kang worked the Kimura on your right arm from side control, how concerned were you? You looked calm, but at the same time, any wrong move and Kang could’ve locked in the submission.

Gegard Mousasi: No, I felt that I was strong enough to not let him bend my arm and, with my other arm, I was holding his arm from time-to-time to prevent him from bending my arm.

Fighters.com:It seemed like there was a second or so while you were positioning Kang for the leg triangle when Kang froze. He wasn’t even really pushing on your right knee with his left hand, though he had his hand there. He wasn’t trying to yank free. Do you think he didn’t expect you to be able to submit him? He had to know what you were attempting, right?

Gegard Mousasi:People think that it was a lucky submission. I’ve never heard of a lucky submission! If you look at the fight, you will see that, when he wanted to hammerfist me, I was holding his left leg and pulled on it. He fell to his knee and I pushed my body up over his knee and put on the triangle. I held his arm immediately so he couldn’t pull it back. The triangle was already tight and I secured it more to finish it.

Fighters.com:Your next opponent is a world champion judoka. Does your judo background give you an advantage versus Yoon that fighters who’ve just added a few throws to their game wouldn’t have?

Gegard Mousasi: I train with my friends. They have wrestling and judo backgrounds and I learn from them.

Fighters.com: You’ve stopped all but one of your eight opponents since tapping in an armbar to Akihiro Gono (28-12-7) in 2006. How have you changed since that loss to Gono? Was there a change in the way you thought about the sport?

Gegard Mousasi:Yes! From my loss, I learned more than from my wins. I am more well-rounded now. I realized that, in this sport, you need to be prepared in every fighting discipline.

Fighters.com: Most consider Fighters.com Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva (21-4) virtually unbeatable. How would you beat him?

Gegard Mousasi:Every fighter that fights him wants to go to the ground and that’s why they lose. You need a good stand up against Silva and the opportunities will come for takedowns. That’s the way I would fight him.

Fighters.com:Thanks Gegard, and thanks to Ino Alberga for connecting us for this talk.

Gegard Mousasi: Thanks for the interview!

The rest of the card were fights in the Middleweight Grand Prix.

Gegard Mousasi (21-2-1) submitted Denis Kang (29-10-1) in a triangle choke at 3:10 of round one.

Taiei Kin (3-2) won a unaninmous decision over “The Punk” Ikuhisa Minowa (39-28-8).

“Benkei” Zelg Galesic (8-3) submitted Magomed Sultanakhmedov (4-2) by armbar at 1:40 of round one.

“The Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (24-10-1) sumbitted Andrews Nakahara (0-1) by neck crank at 8:20 of the first round.

“Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (8-1) submitted Ian Murphy (0-1) by rear naked choke at 3:38 of the first round.

Kiyoshi Tamura (32-14-1) TKO Masakatsu Funaki (38-13-1) in 57 seconds.

Dong Sik Yoon (4-4) won a unanimous decision over Shungo Oyama (7-11).

Korean-Canadian Denis Kang (29-9-1) will take the ring across from Armenian Gegard Mousasi (20-2-1) in a middleweight grand prix bout.

Mousasi steps-up on a string of six first-round stoppages.  Kang bounces back from a first-round knockout loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1).

A pair of Japanese heroes, “The Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (23-10-1) and Masakatsu Funaki (38-12-1), will continue their legends in DREAM.

Saku’ draws Karate champ Andrews Nakahara of Brazil, who makes his MMA debut.  Funaki faces U-File’s Kiyoshi Tamura (28-14), a former PRIDE fighter.