UFC 204: Bisping vs Hendo 2

[ColinBollocks]

Ha. We all said the same thing about Rockhold. I'm never writing off Bisping again.

[Fox Piss]

If it was a straight pick his next fight i'd go for Rockhold only on the idea that he may have one foot out of the door. Unfortunately even if this is the case it will be found out by Jacare and not Bisping. 

Survive round 1 and you could see momentum turning in a fight against Yoel. Yoel in rounds 4 and 5 is very intriguing. 

[boyfriend]

Yeh I hear you with Luke alright. I also see Weidman as beatable for Bisping, never fully had him as high as the others.

 

I think Jacare/Romero are the toughest 2 for him personally. With Croc man being the most dangerous for the point you made about Yoel McDrugs. 

[Guest]

Maybe I think too much wrestling , but i don't think any champion should quit the game as champion. Other than something career ending Injury wise. Part of why boxing never appealed to me was too many champions amd belts never felt like the really meant anything so often just given up

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Ha. We all said the same thing about Rockhold. I'm never writing off Bisping again.

Yeah but come on, even Rockhold didn't take Bisping seriously. Anderson spent too much time fucking around in that fight. And now, Bisping went to a narrow decision to a 46 year old Hendo after getting put on his arse twice. I don't think Bisping's improved one iota from the nearly man he was his whole career, he's just benefitted from a series of fortunate circumstances. Rockhold gave him the knockout by walking forward with hands down and chin up. Hendo was getting routinely sparked in the first round, but was competitive with Bisping for 5 rounds.

 

This year of Bisping's is great if you're a fan of Bisping, or supporting him due to UK pride, but it's not like he's massively improved and fans/fighters are blind to it, but it's because of the arrogance of Rockhold and Anderson that he's looked better than he is.

 

Moral of the story- fighters should take every opponent seriously. If that happened this year, Bisping never beats Rockhold or Silva, and we don't get the farce that was a 46 year old 80 year old fighting for the title and looking "good" against the champ. Bisping will get brought back to his appropriate midcard level in his next defense if he gets a legitimate contender- provided that contender approaches the fight giving Bisping respect. Bisping is a good fighter, but not championship caliber- watching 90 year old Hendo smack him about proved that.

[tiger_rick]

Bisping is a good fighter, but not championship caliber

That gold belt around his waist must be a replica then.

[David]

 

Bisping is a good fighter, but not championship caliber

That gold belt around his waist must be a replica then.

 

Buster Douglas held the title, but he wasn't championship calibre either. 

 

Look, everyone thought it was great that Bisping won the big one finally, but let's not get carried away. He won because he managed to catch Rockhold while Rockhold was acting like a twat. Bisping deserved the win, but nine times out of ten Rockhold smashes him.

[tiger_rick]

It's not wrestling. It's not subjective. You're championship calibre if you beat the champion. It's that simple.

 

We'll find out how good he really is but his acheivements in the last year far outweigh what anyone thought he was capable of, unless you're a fucking liar, so who knows what he can do next. To say he hasn't improved is more utter bullshit. Bisping of a few years ago doesn't survive a Hendo right hand an being smashed to fuck on the ground.

 

I don't think he beats the best in the division either as I said 24 hours ago. But doing down the guy's actual acheivements is petty.

[David]

It's not wrestling. It's not subjective. You're championship calibre if you beat the champion. It's that simple.

 

We'll find out how good he really is but his acheivements in the last year far outweigh what anyone thought he was capable of, unless you're a fucking liar, so who knows what he can do next. To say he hasn't improved is more utter bullshit. Bisping of a few years ago doesn't survive a Hendo right hand an being smashed to fuck on the ground.

 

I don't think he beats the best in the division either as I said 24 hours ago. But doing down the guy's actual acheivements is petty.

 

Who mentioned wrestling? We already have a pretty good handle on how good he really is, Rick. We've been watching him for fucking years.

 

He won a close decision over a guy who was 2-3 in his last five. I honestly thought Bisping would school Henderson in this fight, win a completely lopsided decision. But he didn't. Every time he got clipped by that right hand he hit the deck.

 

As I said earlier, he's taken a whole lot of damage in two of his last three now, and I think the miles are beginning to add up.

[tiger_rick]

We already have a pretty good handle on how good he really is, Rick. We've been watching him for fucking years.

Maybe you're one of the handful of people on the board who didn't vote for Rockhold to retain at UFC 199 then? Or are you a different guy to the "David" who said Bisping should have retired after the Silva fight before he went and beat Rockhold?

 

I'm glad you've got such a great handle on it, like.

[David]

 

We already have a pretty good handle on how good he really is, Rick. We've been watching him for fucking years.

Maybe you're one of the handful of people on the board who didn't vote for Rockhold to retain at UFC 199 then? Or are you a different guy to the "David" who said Bisping should have retired after the Silva fight before he went and beat Rockhold?

 

I'm glad you've got such a great handle on it, like.

 

I have no idea what your point is, Rick. I consider Bispings win over Rockhold to be a bit of a fluke. A terrific, feel-good fluke right enough, but a fluke nonetheless. 

 

Even the most ardent Bisping fan would agree that Rockhold came into that fight taking Bisping lightly, wouldn't they? We saw what a switched-on Rockhold did to him when they last fought.

[tiger_rick]

I have no idea what your point is, Rick.

You're not that daft.

 

Fluke is harsh too. In elite sport, you've got to be at your best all of the time or other elite athletes will beat you. That's not a fluke. That's the reality of competing. Rockhold's mentality was all wrong and he found out Michael Bisping is a lot better than he thought he was. Tough shit that.

 

I think Rockhold would win a rematch too. I'm not pretending Bisping is suddenly Anderson Silva. But the "not championship calibre" and "should retire" idiocy gets my goat. Bisping wouldn't have had the best moments of his career if your "should retire" shite had any merit.

[David]

 

I have no idea what your point is, Rick.

You're not that daft.

 

Fluke is harsh too. In elite sport, you've got to be at your best all of the time or other elite athletes will beat you. That's not a fluke. That's the reality of competing. Rockhold's mentality was all wrong and he found out Michael Bisping is a lot better than he thought he was. Tough shit that.

 

I think Rockhold would win a rematch too. I'm not pretending Bisping is suddenly Anderson Silva. But the "not championship calibre" and "should retire" idiocy gets my goat. Bisping wouldn't have had the best moments of his career if your "should retire" shite had any merit.

 

 

Fluke isn't really that harsh in my opinion. Not only did he beat Rockhold, but he won by KO/TKO, something that he hasn't done since he defeated Cung Le. If ever a result of a fight could be called a fluke, this was it.

 

And Rockhold didn't find out that Bisping is a lot better than he thought he was, he got caught by an overhand shot because he was overconfident. It had nothing to do with Bisping being better than he thought.

 

And you have to understand that I'm not claiming Bisping isn't a deserving champion, because he is. He won the title, so he deserves to be there. But championship calibre? Nah, not for me.

 

Like I mentioned above, both Buster Douglas and Hasim Rahman won the heavyweight title in boxing. Both deserved to be champion, but would you consider either to be championship calibre?

 

As for my belief he should retire, i note that you're pulling me up on it despite others readily agreeing. No surprise there though, but still, I stand by it.

 

He beat Anderson Silva by a bawhair, and got fucking mangled in the process. At that point there was no way of knowing he'd replace Weidman at short notice and cause one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.

 

He just defended the title in front of his hometown crowd, celebrated his win with his family in the cage.

 

It simply doesn't get better than that. Even if he somehow manages to find a way to beat a top three guy in his next fight in Vegas, it won't top that. He could have went out on top, but chose not to. Which is a shame.

[tiger_rick]

And Rockhold didn't find out that Bisping is a lot better than he thought he was, he got caught by an overhand shot because he was overconfident. It had nothing to do with Bisping being better than he thought.

That's exactly where over-confidence comes from.

 

Like I mentioned above, both Buster Douglas and Hasim Rahman won the heavyweight title in boxing. Both deserved to be champion, but would you consider either to be championship calibre?

Before they won, no. But once they have, they are. Probably just getting caught up in semantics so I'll agree to disagree.

 

It simply doesn't get better than that. Even if he somehow manages to find a way to beat a top three guy in his next fight in Vegas, it won't top that. He could have went out on top, but chose not to. Which is a shame.

I think it does for him. He's a guy who still loves to compete and is driven by achieving. He's still ambitious. To knock him for that is to not understand him at all. To go and beat other top middleweights and hold onto the title. Maybe prove to people who think he's not "Championship Calibre" that he is. That will drive a guy like him. We know it will. He doesn't give a fuck if he takes a beating along the way.

 

I can see where you're coming from but for someone with such a good grasp of the sport, it seems a pretty naive POV.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

 

I have no idea what your point is, Rick.

You're not that daft.

 

Fluke is harsh too. In elite sport, you've got to be at your best all of the time or other elite athletes will beat you. That's not a fluke. That's the reality of competing. Rockhold's mentality was all wrong and he found out Michael Bisping is a lot better than he thought he was. Tough shit that.

 

I think Rockhold would win a rematch too. I'm not pretending Bisping is suddenly Anderson Silva. But the "not championship calibre" and "should retire" idiocy gets my goat. Bisping wouldn't have had the best moments of his career if your "should retire" shite had any merit.

I don't think Bisping should retire, but I don't think he's anymore than the good mid level gatekeeper he was before 2016. He was just fortunate enough to have fights with two guys that treated him like he was CM Punk.

 

I made the "championship calibre" comment, and David gave great examples of guys who have held a belt but their actual skill and record isn't at the elite standard you would expect of a champion. For a MMA hypothetical, Bethe Correia got a title shot off beating Rousey's mates. If Ronda slipped on a banana peel and Bethe got a crazy KO that way, won the belt, then had the same fights and performances she actually had post-Rousey, could you say she was a championship-calibre fighter because of her one crazy upset victory?