The news comes from The Telegraph’s MMA correspondent Gareth Davies who describes the bout as, “almost certain.”

This was a bout that had been rumored for some time, but appeared to be put in doubt after Akiyama lost to Chris Leben at UFC 116 last weekend.  Vitor Belfort then appeared to be the front-runner, but Bisping himself hinted that was no longer the case on his twitter account yesterday, telling a fan, “rumours were looking true, but now they aren’t.”

And so it appears the UFC have now settled on Akiyama.  Though the Judokan lost to Leben, he did put in a ‘Fight Of The Night’ performance, with some going as far as to say it could be considered a ‘Fight Of The Year’ candidate.  He also demonstrated a strong chin and significant punching power which could stand him in good stead against the Brit.

Bisping is no stranger to facing heavy-handed strikers though, including the aforementioned Leben who he outpointed back at UFC 89.  ‘The Count’ is also well known for having excellent cardio, something that Akiyama still struggles with and may ultimately have led to his downfall last Saturday night.

“I am not pleased with the change,” Korean MMA site sports.media.daum.net reports Akiyama as having said.  “There are just ten days left until the contest for me to determine [Chris Leben's] threats and the time is insufficient to establish a tailored gameplan. Leben is also not as high-profile as [Wanderlei] Silva and that does not help me.” – Translation by Fighters Only.

“If there is to be a replacement I was hoping for a big name. I spent one year preparing hard for this fight and this news has come as a big disappointment, my motivation has waned. I do not know yet what will happen. .. In the worst case, I will not take part in the [UFC 116] event. We are working hard to resolve this issue.”

On one hand it’s understandable that Akiyama would be disappointed.  He was originally scheduled to face Silva at UFC 110 in Australia, but was then bumped off the card with Michael Bisping being favored instead.  He then agreed to sit on the sidelines for an additional four months in order to still face the former PRIDE legend.

So yes, it’s definitely an unfortunate sequence of events, but voicing his displeasure at Silva’s replacement and suggesting that he might pull out of the fight is hardly the right way to go here.

Who was he expecting at such short notice anyway?  Surely after not having set foot in the octagon for a year he should just be relieved that an adequate replacement was found with just two weeks to go.

Leben may not have Silva’s star power, but he’s far from a complete unknown.  Though is form is somewhat patchy he still holds a career record of 20-6, 10-5 in the UFC, and just defeated a fighter in Aaron Simpson who many had tipped for big things at 185lbs.

‘The Crippler’ also possesses a similar skill-set to ‘The Axe-Murderer’, so it’s not as if Akiyama has to completely overhaul his game-plan in order to face him.

Hopefully it was just some words spoken in the heat of the moment by the Judokan and he won’t back out of the fight.  Needless to say if he did so it would leave the UFC in a very awkward position and he would undoubtedly incur the wrath of Dana White who is big on having his fighters be ‘team players’.

The fight had been set to lead in to the main event between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin on July 3rd, but now the UFC are left scrambling for an alternative opponent with less than two weeks to go.

MMAfighting.com who first reported the news say that the UFC are actively seeking an opponent, but have no alternative in place as yet.

This should be a fun fight. Silva is of course something of a poster-child for stand-up wars and is currently looking to rejuvenate his career at 185lbs after picking up his first win in the division against Michael Bisping.

Akiyama is also a battle hardened fighter who showed he was willing to trade blows in his UFC debut win over renowned striker Alan Belcher which claimed ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors at the historic UFC 100 event.

Check out the UFC’s in-depth preview video for the fight below.

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Now Fighters Only Magazine are claiming that the fight between Bisping (18-2) and Silva (32-10-1(1)) may now be set to take place for the promotions first visit to Australia at UFC 110.

“Verbal agreements for the clash have been given, although Fighters Only understands that bout agreements are not yet drawn up. The fight will not be official until these are signed and returned by both men,” the site states

Wanderlei Silva is currently scheduled to face Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama at the event, but it appears that UFC officials have now cooled on that idea and have other plans for Silva. After watching his knockout defeat to Dan Henderson, and knockdown against Kang in his last encounters, Silva may well relish the chance to test his well established K.O power against the Brit as he seeks to get back to winning ways in the UFC.

For Bisping it is another potentially risky bout with a heavy handed striker. This should be familiar to him by now however having fought a string of K.O artists like Rashad Evans, Chris Leben, Dan Henderson and Denis Kang over the past two years.