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Bisping confident of title shot in 2011

Michael Bisping can sense a title shot is within his grasp © Getty Images

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Michael Bisping is confident he will be granted a shot at the UFC world middleweight title before 2011 is out.

The Manchester fighter is set to face Jorge Rivera at UFC 127 in Australia, and believes if he can emerge victorious from that clash - and then beat the next opponent put in front of him - he will be granted a title shot before the end of the calendar year.

"As of yet I haven't heard anything," Bisping told ITV, when asked about his title aspirations. "I'm cruising along towards a title shot, I've gained a bit of momentum. 2010 was a good year, I'm looking to keep building on that momentum in 2011.

"Fingers crossed when I beat Rivera, maybe one more opponent and it should be a title shot. Around the end of the year there should be another contender, and hopefully by then I should have earned my shot."

The current champion, Anderson Silva, has already told ESPN he would be happy to fight Bisping in England - should he still be the champion when the opportunity arises. But before that the 31-year-old will have to make sure he beats Rivera, a fighter with a lot of experience in the octogon. The Englishman is nevertheless confident of success, having enjoyed a promising start to his training camp.

"I'm in week four of an eight week camp," Bisping said. "I'm feeling very good. To be honest I could probably fight next week. I always say this but two or three weeks into a camp my fitness really improves.

"I'm constantly trying to evolve as a martial artist, and to do that you've got to keep improving. That means working on your stand-up, your grappling, your jiu-jitsu etc. Every fight I want to go into as the best version of myself, a better Michael Bisping so to speak. Of course when you get matched up against an opponent you try to assess their strengths and weaknesses, but really you want to improve in all areas."

Asked how he sees the Rivera fight going, Bisping struck a confident tone - believing his all-round skills will simply prove too much for the powerful American.

"He's going to come out and look to knock me out. I think that's his only weapon in this," he said. "I think I'm a better fighter than him with a much more rounded skill-set. All I've got to worry about really is power - he has a big right hand. I'm going to fight fire with fire, I want to finish him in style.

"He's a tough fighter. I never underestimate anybody but I truly believe I'm the better fighter. He's been around a long time and he's fought some of the best, but he's never been the champ and I think there's a reason for that. I think 2011 is going to my year, I think I've got too much for him.

"Whatever way it's going to be I'm going to win this fight and hopefully, by the end of the year, I'm going to bring the world title back to Manchester."

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