Fresh off of a dominant victory this past weekend, British star Michael “The Count” Bisping will return to the cage on January 28, 2012 when he faces submission specialist Demian Maia at UFC on FOX 2 in Chicago, Illinois. The middleweight bout was officially announced by UFC personnel today.

Bisping stopped fellow TUF 14 coach Jason “Mayhem” Miller in the show’s finale event on Saturday and looks to position himself for a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship later in 2012. Maia has won three of four fights since challenging unsuccessfully for the 185-pound title last year.

Bisping (22-3-0) rose to fame as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3 and he has had considerable success since dropping down to the middleweight division in 2008. He looked to potentially be one victory away from a title shot until he was brutally knocked out by Dan “Hendo” Henderson at UFC 100. Since then, he has battled back with five wins in his past six fights, with the lone defeat coming in a closely-contested matchup with former PRIDE champ Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva. While a victory over Maia may not guarantee Bisping a title shot, he will be among the top contenders at 185 if he is able to defeat the jiu-jitsu ace.

Maia (15-3-0) opened his career with 11 straight victories, including a quick submission win over Chael Sonnen, before suffering a devastating knockout loss of his own against Nate “The Great” Marquardt. He rebounded with a win over Dan Miller to set up a title fight with Anderson “The Spider” Silva, but lost a Unanimous Decision after five rounds in a bizarre fight. Maia has earned decision victories in three of his four UFC appearances since losing to Silva and most recently defeated fellow jiu-jitsu practitioner Jorge “The Sandman” Santiago at UFC 136. Maia now looks to get back into the title picture by defeating one of the division’s rising stars.

UFC on FOX 2 takes place on January 28, 2012 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)