Michael Bisping defeats Anderson Silva by unanimous decision at UFC London despite almost being knocked out in third round

Michael Bisping delivered the best performance of his career to beat Anderson Silva and stake his claim for a long-awaited UFC title shot.

The Lancashire middleweight controlled large swathes of the fight and survived a third-round knockdown to maintain his unbeaten record on these shores. 

Now he will surely make his case to president Dana White for a rematch with current champion Luke Rockhold and the chance to become Britain's first champion. 

Michael Bisping celebrates on top of the cage in tears after defeating Anderson Silva at the O2 Arena

Bisping demonstrated his aggressive streak by attacking Brazilian Silva from round one on Saturday night

The Brazilian thought he had won the fight at the end of the third round when he dropped Bisping with a knee

Bisping, once ranked as high as No 3, has spent 10 years chasing that very opportunity but eliminator defeats by Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson twice set him back.

He also has a defeat by Rockhold on his record but the champion was Octagon-side at The O2 and has said he is open to a second fight against the Englishman, should he come through his own summer rematch with Chris Weidman.

Silva, on the other hand, is no stranger to wearing the gold belt around his waist having defended his title a record 10 times during a seven-year reign.

But having been knocked out by Weidman in 2013 and then breaking his leg in the rematch, Silva spent more than 12 months on the sidelines.

He returned to the Octagon early last year but his victory over Nick Diaz was rendered meaningless when both men failed drug tests.

All three judges were in complete agreement over the five rounds on Saturday night

But the buzzer had sounded before referee Herb Dean could think about stopping the fight

Bisping dropped Silva at the end of the first round after a cagey opening in the main event

Here, Silva was content to fight on the back foot for the majority of the opening round as Bisping missed with a succession of head kicks.

But the fight, and the crowd, came to life close to the bell as first the Brazilian and then his opponent landed telling blows.

In the build-up, Bisping predicted a second-round ground-and-pound finish and he almost pulled it off when he dropped Silva with a one-two before moving in for closure - but 40-year-old was able to fend him off for the remainder of the session.

Bisping remained in control of the fight into the third stanza, keeping Silva at bay with an impressive display of pressure fighting.

But the former champion turned the tables in the final minute, pushing Bisping back to the fence and forcing his gumshield to tumble to the floor.

The Count then floored the former champion again at the end of the second to take an early lead

Realising it was missing, Bisping appealed to referee Herb Dean while simultaneously taking a flying knee to the face and crumpling to the canvas.

But although Silva and his team celebrated an apparent knockout, the round had in fact come to an end.

Calm was eventually restored and Bisping overcame a low blow and a cut under his left eye to return to the front foot.

Again Silva left it late to switch to the offensive but this time it was he who was staggered and left needing a stoppage to win on my card.

And despite being backed up, he rocked Bisping with a kick to the face midway through the final round only for the Brit, who turns 37 on Sunday, to once again force the pace as blood continued to trickle down his face.

And still the onslaught from the opposite corner did not come, leaving Bisping to celebrate a narrow but deserved victory with all there judges scoring the fight 48-47 in his favour.

The Count was left bloodied in the fourth and fifth rounds after Silva's vicious flying left knee

Speaking after his victory, Bisping said: 'I don't know [if this is my greatest victory]. I wanted this fight my entire life. You guys [the fans] give me the power.

'I'm just a guy from a normal background but you guys have been in my corner every time.

'I worship this guy [Silva], he's the greatest martial artist of all time. The respect I have for you cannot be measured.

'I've always wanted a shot, I thought I'd do better than this, I didn't think I would end up looking like this.'

Silva, however, disputed the decision, claiming it was 'corrupt'.

Despite his frustration, the Brazilian was pleased to be back in London where he made his name on the local mixed martial arts scene.

'I want to say thank you for everything, thank you for people in London for coming to watch the fights,' he added.

'I'm very happy because I'm back in London I don't come here for a long time. I thought the mission was completed but I guess not.'

Bisping suffered a cut under his left eye but battled through to win by decison

Bisping celebrates a career-defining victory as he maintained his unbeaten record in Britain

An emotional Bisping paid tribute to the home crowd after they roared him to victory

Gegard Mousasi, who was originally slated to face Bisping, instead took on - and defeated - Thales Leites in the co-main event.

Leites lost a close decision to Bisping in Glasgow last summer and was on the back foot against the Dutchman as he picked his punches to perfection in the first round.

Leites, who suffered a second successive defeat for the first time since 2009, failed to come to life until the final stages, by which time it was too late.

The victor said: 'He is a well rounded fighter, a very tough opponent. Michael Bisping had a hard time with him, Anderson Silva wasn’t able to put him away and he wasn't such a good fighter back then, so I knew it could go three rounds but I knew I just needed to fight smart.

'I feel like I could fight for a title and I would have a great chance of winning but I'm not there yet. What can I say? I have to earn it. I think maybe I need another fight before I get that shot.'

Gegard Mousasi (right) claimed a comfortable decision victory over Thales Leites in the co-main event

The much-hyped Tom Breese endured a frustrating night against Keita Nakamura but was ultimately able to grind out his third victory in the UFC.

Breese, from Birmingham, sent Cathal Pendred into retirement in Dublin last October and has been touted as the mostly likely from these shores to eventually wrap a championship belt around his waist.

But he was dumped on the canvas in the opening stages of the first and second rounds as the home crowd showed their displeasure at the lack of stand-up action.

Reese did manage to assume top position in the middle session however and unloaded with his elbows before doing enough to close the show in the final five minutes.

He said: 'I'm happy with the win but at the same time I'm disappointed. It was good experience fighting an opponent of that level. The fight didn't go how I expected it to though, if it had have gone how I wanted it to, I would have been a lot more dominant inside the Octagon.

'It's a great feeling to win in front of my home fans and I want to say thanks to them, but it's bitter sweet as I didn’t put on the performance that I wanted. I want to stay active and keep myself busy and continue to grow as a fighter and I want to fight again in the summer.'

Tom Breese won a unanimous decision over Keita Nakamura to remain undefeated

But the 24-year-old welterweight from Birmingham wasn't happy with his performance in London

An emotional Brad Pickett vowed to fight on after rescuing his UFC career from the precipice with a split-decision victory over Francisco Rivera.

Pickett had lost his previous three fights and defeat would likely have brought the curtain down on his five-year spell with the promotion.

The bantamweights traded first-round blows as if they were going out of fashion but the Californian dropped the Londoner in the early stages to edge the session.

The pace slowed in an evenly-matched second with a low blow from Pickett temporarily halting the action.

But he dragged himself through the final round before collapsing to the canvas with delight upon hearing the judges' decision.

Pickett said: 'I'm emotional, I'm all over the place. Walking out there was great, but walking back was better. I don't do this sport just to make up the numbers, I want to be someone within the sport, and if I felt I couldn’t compete, not just compete at the level but win at this level, then I would hang my gloves up tonight.

Brad Picket survived an early scare to claim a decision victory over dangerous striker Francisco Rivera

An emotional Pickett revealed he would have considered retiring had he lost to Rivera 

'So I’m happy I got the win. I had a lot of pressure going into this fight, I had a lot of demons. And no matter who I was facing – it could have been the No 1 in the world or some guy on the street - I had a lot of inner demons that I was fighting, and I am so happy to come away with the win.'

The British contingent endured a night of mixed fortunes in the preliminaries with Scott Askham displaying devastating finishing power to knock out Chris Dempsey.

The Yorkshireman wobbled his opponent with a left hand before knocking him out with a kick to the head from the same side.

'This is just a fantastic event, and to have that home crowd and that home support is amazing,' he said. 'Then, when I got the finish, the whole arena erupted and that’s something I will never, ever forget.

'Other than getting taken down early on, I'm happy with my performance. This is just a moment I'll never forget.'

Scott Askham delivered a sickening KO to the head of Chris Dempsey in the first round 

Demsey received medical attention after crashing to the canvas from Askham's left kick

Injury had forced Davey Grant to wait more than two years to return to the Octagon following defeat in The Ultimate Fighter finale but he made up for lost time with a dominant performance against Marlon Vera, overcoming persistent fouling by the Ecuadorian.

A bloodied but triumphant Grant said: 'I'm over the moon. It was a hard fight but just so worth it to get the win.

'I feel like I'm a better fighter now. It's been two years of learning. It was brilliant walking out there, honestly, I felt so relaxed and it was just one of the best experiences of my life.

'I felt nice and comfortable in the Octagon and I look forward to the next one.'

Davey Grant returned from two years on the sidelines to dominate against Marlon Vera 

Earlier, Arnold Allen thought he had stopped Yaotzin Meza in the dying seconds of the third and final round when he dropped the American with a right hand.

The bell had in fact sounded to end the fight but it made little difference as the Englishman was awarded the decision on all three scorecards.

Allen said: 'I've been training hard for this fight and being out in Tristar has just allowed me to improve so much. I think the UFC are going to be coming to the UK more often. There is just so much talent here, so many talented UK fighters, and it's great to be a part of that.'

But there were defeats for Brad Scott and Norman Parke while Mike Wilkinson failed to back up his pre-fight trash talk against Marwan Amirkhani as he succumbed to a dominant grappling performance from the Finn.

Marwan Amirkhani showcased his grappling game in a convincing victory over Mike Wilkinson 

Wilkinson said: 'I'm obviously gutted that I didn’t get the win but, you know me, there’s just no give up in me and that’s all for the fans.

'You can elbow me all you want and I'll just punch you back until the bell goes, so it was one of those kind of fights. Obviously I'm upset but, it’s back to the gym on Monday, crack on and onto the next one.'

His conqueror added: 'We put on a good show, that's for sure. In the end, me and Mike, we both knew that we would hug each other because in the end, we were there for those people watching.

'The one thing that was in my mind was to put on a good performance and when the referee came between us at the end, I knew that we had accomplished what we came to do, so I was really happy with the performance.'