The Team Quest grappler won via a controversial unanimous decision, which UFC President Dana White even criticised on Twitter, but he will now receive a title shot against Silva later in the year.

Sonnen revealed his surprise at Bisping's powerful strikes in the opening round and reckons even the Brazilian, who is undefeated in the UFC, would find it tough to compete with the former Ultimate Fighter winner.

He told the post-fight press conference: "Having fought both Bisping and the alleged champion [Silva], I can tell you Bisping could beat him.

"I was surprised by everything. He hit me so hard I didn't know what round it was. I was never in a position where I was comfortable.

"I looked at him and thought 'my God, you have no idea how hard you hit me'."

Magnanimous

Bisping was magnanimous in defeat and congratulated Sonnen on his win, but was still mystified by scoring of one of the judges.

He said "No way on earth was that a 30-27. That judge needs to consider his position.

"Tonight didn't go my way, I picked up a moral victory but moral victories suck, it was a good fight and this is not the last you've seen of me. I will fight for the title"

He added on Fuel TV: ""Personally I think I won the first two rounds. I think there is no question he won the third round, although if I had another round I probably would have stopped him.

"He even said to me after the fight before the decision was announced, he said, 'What do you think Mike?' And I said honestly I think I got the first two rounds and he said, 'I think you might be right.'

"But as I said, it was a good fight, competitive, congratulations to Chael Sonnen.

"He did enough in the eyes of the judges to win the fight."