UFC Fight Night 48: Bisping vs. Le

The UFC returns to China for the third time this Saturday with their worst lineup yet. That’s with Michael Bisping versus Cung Le as arguably the best main event and Dong Hyun Kim versus Tyron Woodley as arguably the best, most relevant fight of any of the China shows. Fight Night 48 takes a Great Wall-sized dump on the undercard, though. The UFC’s first two China shows could pass as legitimate UFC events sprinkled with regional talent. Fight Night 48's undercard features The Ultimate Fighter 14 journeyman Roland Delorme and Fight Pass punchline Royston Wee as the only names you might kind-of, sort-of recognize.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The UFC constructed Fight Night 48 in line with what I proposed in the past. It’s far past time Dong Hyun Kim returns to the States (this is his fifth consecutive fight on an international show), though the UFC must see him as a regional draw of some sort, having booked him on all three China shows (a claim all his own). And a fight with Woodley (or Kim’s original opponent, Hector Lombard) fits better as a Fox Sports 1 co-main or PPV/Big Fox support.

The main event fits, though, with Bisping either on the downside of his career or needing a gimme after his loss to Tim Kennedy following a year-long layoff (and likely both) and Le being the featured-attraction-type fighter he’s always been. The bland undercard means nothing else goes missed in North America, though one wonders why the UFC chose to bury a women’s bantamweight fight on this card.

So, no, it’s not a great card in its entirety, but you’ve got a couple good-to-great fights to watch while you nurse your hangover this weekend.

Check out the UFC Fight Night 48 fight card below.

Main card (UFC Fight Pass at 9 a.m. ET)
Michael Bisping vs. Cung Le
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Tyron Woodley
Zhang Lipeng vs. Brendan O'Reilly
Ning Guangyou vs. Yang Jianping

Undercard (UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 a.m. ET)
Wang Sai vs. Danny Mitchell
Alberto Mina vs. Shinsho Anzai
Roland Delorme vs. Yuta Sasaki
Wang Anying vs. Colby Covington
Elizabeth Phillips vs. Milana Dudieva
Yao Zhikui vs. Royston Wee