UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 16, 2010, at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom.

The main event featured The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Michael Bisping and the Japanese judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama.

The co-main event of the evening featured Dan Hardy (who entered the contest having become the first Englishman to compete in a UFC Championship bout, albeit unsuccessfully) and Carlos Condit, the former World Extreme Cagefighting Welterweight champion.

The main event featured The Ultimate Fighter 3 tournament winner Michael Bisping facing off against the Japanese judoka practitioner Yoshihiro Akiyama in a fight contested at the UFC middleweight limit of 185 pounds (84 kg).

Michael Bisping sought to defeat Akiyama in his home country in the hope of moving closer to the UFC Middleweight Championship picture.

[3] Additionally, Bisping looked to maintain his perfect record in Europe, having only ever been defeated in the United States and Australia.

[4] Akiyama was an incredibly popular[clarification needed] personality in his home nations of South Korea and Japan and whilst his signing wasn't particularly celebrated in the United States or England,[10] it was big news in the far east,[10] where Akiyama is known not only for his fighting career, but also for his singing career and his status as a mild fashion icon, which led to the forming of his nickname "Sexyama".

Many pundits were vocal in their disagreement with Akiyama winning the bout,[13][14] with even UFC president Dana White stating "I wasn't 100 percent sure of the decision, you know what I mean, but I think it was a tough fight to score, too".

[12][16] However, with seconds left in the final round, Leben was able to secure a triangle choke submission to force Akiyama to tap-out.

"[22] Hardy went on to defeat Davis and was placed in a title contender fight against Mike Swick at UFC 105, in Manchester, England.

This was Hardy's last fight before UFC 120 and he was thoroughly dominated by St-Pierre's wrestling and top control resulting in a loss via unanimous decision (50–43, 50–44, 50–45).

After the fight, the judges scorecards were revealed and showed that had MacDonald not been finished in the last seven seconds, then he would have picked up a split decision victory.

"[30] The third main card bout featured English fighter John Hathaway facing MMA veteran Mike Pyle in the welterweight division.

"[32] Also on the main card was a heavyweight (206–265 pounds) fight between French fighter and UFC veteran Cheick Kongo and the relative newcomer Travis Browne.

[33] For Browne, it was a chance to build on his successful UFC debut, where he defeated James McSweeney via TKO in the opening round of their bout.

[35] Patrick, who had an MMA record of 12 wins and 1 loss, was making his second UFC appearance, having won in his debut via guillotine choke just a few months earlier.

[37] Tom Blackledge, an assistant coach for Team Rampage on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights was originally set to fight James Te-Huna.

[39] However, on September 28, 2010, Tom Blackledge withdrew from the matchup with James McSweeney for unknown reasons and was replaced by Fabio Maldonado.

[43] Other main events held in England featured well known former champions, such as Randy Couture[44] and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, though UFC 120 was perceived to have less star power.

[42] The complaints by English fans were slightly exacerbated due to the length of time between when events were held in the country.

The UK president of the UFC, Marshall Zelaznik stated: "Obviously, championship fights for the most part are elevated to the pay-per-view cards.

The pay-per-view cards over here, because of the time change, make it a bit of a challenge in the U.S. to see the impact you're hoping to see from the championship fights.

"[43] In an effort to appease the dissatisfied fans, he also added: "It's a bit of a business decision, but that's not to say we'll never have a pay-per-view here or we'll never have a championship fight here.

[48] It was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre on October 15 and 16 and it allowed fans to visit over 100 MMA-related vendors and also get autographs from several UFC fighters who attended the expo.

[50] Despite the negative reaction to the event and its participants, Marshall Zelaznik announced that UFC 120 was expected to break the European attendance and gate receipts records,[51] having sold out the original seating plan.

[51] This later proved partially correct, as the event set a new European attendance record of 17,133, but fell just short of the gate receipts figure with $2.56m.

[1] Despite the record attendance, the viewing figures on Spike TV were reduced from the last event to take place in England.