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The Natural

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Only just realised Israel Adesanya has been added to the UFC 221 card. Only last year he was challenging for a Glory World Title, 50-4 as a kickboxer and 11-0 in MMA, he can talk it up too. Keep an eye out...

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I think that, in the case of Bisping at least, it was simply because it had taken him so long, and through such a tortuous route, to get there. He kept losing No.1 contender bouts, and he only got his one title shot because someone else pulled out injured. If he'd made it to a title shot sooner, and had more of them, and won the belt into the bargain, he might still have been hungry for it at this stage in his career. I'd imagine being the Nearly Man so often would have been what took it out of him, both physically and mentally. Don't forget - he's been doing a Joe Frazier for the past few years, fighting with effectively one eye. It's possible that, if he had both working, he might be thinking he still had more in the tank.

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Yeah, I think even if he hadn't won the title and was still in his win one/lose one phase, he'd still probably be knocking on retirement's door about now anyway. Maybe he'd have stuck around a bit longer and tried to chase that elusive title shot but ultimately I think he knew he only had a few fights left in him regardless and he's said himself that his wife has been on at him to retire so I don't think he was going to be around too much longer. 

I like that Bisping's not rushing into a decision, to be honest. Would've been nice to see a farewell fight on the London card if he wanted to do that but if he retires now he's a Hall Of Famer and an overachiever and I think he'll be looked back on favourably for the way he fought, the opposition he fought, his awesome 2016 and the fact that he did it without taking the PED shortcuts some of the bigger and more celebrated names did. 

If he does have one more fight, maybe it'll be on a PPV in the summer or something. Or is that Liverpool card still possible for this year? Maybe they can squeeze that one in around October time when they've traditionally ran shows over here. Whack a Darren Till fight on there and Bisping's farewell maybe. 

Whatever he does I think people will miss him more than they think when he's not fighting anymore. Even the people who dislike him. He's been a constant fixture in my MMA viewing since almost the start of me watching it and he's never been dull. 

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Yeah he must be able to see through it. No way he'd be cleared to go in there one-eyed surely? Pretty sure Bisping was saying himself that it functions and he can see out of it and that it looks worse than it actually is because they had to put some kind of oil or something in there to stop the retina detaching again. That's why it looks all dark and weird. Sure he said that when he retires he can get that shit taken out and it'll look a bit more normal but that it'll never be right. 

 

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22 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

Manuwa/Blaschowicz 2 is apparently your London headliner. So no Bisping.

Bleurgh. Not too interested in that as a main event. It feels like Manuwa will never break out of the top 5 to be a title contender, he's already beaten Blachowicz and Blachowicz really is ranked way too low to be fighting a top five guy. This fight under a Bisping retirement main event would make for a card that showed the UFC actually gave a shit about the UK market.

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16 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

im seeing conflicting reports as whether or not it is actually the main event or not.

To be fair, there's been nothing in any of the official announcements from the UFC that suggest it's the main event. However, with the state of the some of the recent fight night headliners, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the case.

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Same here Lamby. I hope it doesn't end up as the headliner though. I was planning to go to this London show but can't see me forking out for tickets plus travel etc for that. The fight itself I don't have a problem with (although it is kind of odd timing-wise as Blachowicz is coming off 2 wins and Manuwa is coming off a KO loss), but as a main event it's dead on arrival. 

Blachowicz does nothing for me anyway, just never really got into him as a fighter, but it'd also be a bit of a weird choice for main event considering Manuwa got KO'd in less than a minute in his last fight.

If it's not the main event though they need to be announcing one sharpish. Tickets should be going on sale soon, shouldn't they? 

 

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I think they want Darren Till Vs Wonderboy to headline and I think his personality appeals more with people than Manuwa as we know his limit, Till just spanked Cowboy and wants to fight the number one contender in Wonderboy, it's just getting Wonderboy to agree to it, he's not getting another shot unless Woodley loses the belt but may as well hold out for more money if they want him to headline shows against people ranked much lower.

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