Author: admin

UFC President Dana White recounted the UFC London main event and revealed that he scored the fight for Anderson Silva.

The UFC’s return to London ended in dramatic fashion, as Michael Bisping defeated one of the greatest fighters of all time by unanimous decision to claim the biggest victory of his career. However, while Bisping was eventually victorious, he was actually knocked out during the fight in a bizarre finish to the third round.

Focused on retrieving his mouthpiece during the third round, Bisping tried to get referee Herb Dean’s attention and eventually took a flying knee to the face for his troubles. Fortunately, the buzzer that signalled the end of the round sounded and Bisping survived into the fourth round.

Can we go back to the end of round 3?! #WhatHadHappenedWas https://t.co/VqquhAt4Gn

— UFC (@ufc) February 27, 2016

Given the surprising turn of events, UFC President Dana White scored the fight for Anderson Silva, even though all three judges scored the fight 48-47 for Bisping.

“I have the same score (as the judges) but the other way,” White said during the post-fight show (h/t MMAMania.)

White did note that it must have been difficult for Silva to resume the fight after believing he had knocked Bisping out in the third round. He was already celebrating his victory when Dean dragged him back to the Octagon to complete the fight.

“Well that’s the thing,” White explained. “He was celebrating, he was up on the Octagon celebrating the win and everybody was screaming ‘the fight isn’t over!’ And they’re trying to get everybody’s guys out, the commission guys, I don’t know why they were allowed to come in anyway so it was crazy.”

Last night (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016), Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping collided at UFC Fight Night 84 inside The 02 Arena in London, England. In a wild fight, Bisping took a unanimous decision. Find out how below!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight strikers Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping finally clashed last night (Feb. 27, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 84 inside The 02 Arena in London, United Kingdom.

After many years of complete dominance, things have gone from bad to worse for Silva. Looking to recover from losing his title and failing a drug test, Silva needed a strong performance last night.

On the other hand, Bisping has been angling for a fight with Silva for the better part of a decade. That opportunity finally arrived, but it was up to “The Count” to make the most of it.

He did just that.

To watch Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva full fight video highlights right now click here.

Early on, Silva circled the Octagon and measured his opponent, while Bisping tried to walk him down and landed a few strikes. While Silva was still doing his usual feeling out process for the first half of the round, Bisping did land a few nice straight punches during that time.

Silva stepped things up in the final 90 seconds. At what point, he walked Bisping into the fence while showing lots of feints, which helped him score with a hard body kick. However, when he looked to exchange near the final bell, it was Bisping who connected with a strong punch that wobbled his opponent’s knees.

While it was fairly close overall, Bisping did earn the opening round.

Bisping opened the second round with more pressure, but let Silva off the fence when “The Spider” tried to draw him in. For much of the round, Bisping did a very nice job of staying disciplined and not reaching for his opponent.

With less than a minute remaining, Bisping put together a lovely combination that sent Silva to the mat hard. Silva recovered fairly quickly, but he was definitely hurt badly.

Two rounds deep, and Bisping was already pulling far ahead with a stellar showing.

Bisping continued to work his game plan opposite Silva, keeping a close distance and firing off quick punches while staying tight. Additionally, he did a nice job of attacking with his outside low kick, which helped him destabilize Silva and avoid counter punches.

At about the halfway point in the round, Silva switched his attack and went on the offensive. While Bisping was at first doing a nice job of defending himself, he allowed himself to be distracted by a missing mouth piece, which gave Silva the opening to score with a massive flying knee.

It very nearly knocked Bisping out, but the bell rang at that exact moment. Silva thought the fight was over, but instead the bout continued on into the championship rounds.

Despite dropping his opponent and nearly finishing him just moments earlier, Silva was very patient to start the round and allowed Bisping to control the center of the Octagon. Then, a low blow from the Brazilian gave Bisping even more time to recover.

Once the fight restarted, Silva spent over a minute with his back to the fence, allowing his opponent to throw and score with some solid punches. It was a really questionable tactic, as Bisping landed some nice shots in these exchanges without eating any counter punches in return.

For the most part, Bisping landed the better strikes throughout the round. However, Silva did finish the round by pushing forward and going on the aggressive, which made it rather close.

Silva started the fifth and final round well with some high kicks and his straight left. After Bisping put his opponent on the fence and began landing again, Silva jacked his jaw with a slick front kick that badly rocked his opponent.

The Brazilian swarmed and landed some hard shots, but Bisping hung tough.

For the rest of the fight, Bisping tried to get back into his rhythm and even attempted a takedown, but the momentum was firmly in his opponent’s corner. Silva wasn’t winning every exchanges, but he was landing enough hard shots to match his opponent’s volume.

On the whole, this was a close fight and should be considered an instant classic. However, all three judges awarded Bisping the unanimous decision win.

This fight really did an excellent job of summing up Michael Bisping, both his strengths and weakness. Of course, there are many plus sides to his performance. Bisping’s cardio is incredible, as he pushed a heavy pace for five rounds despite getting rocked a few times. His kickboxing was more on point than ever, as Bisping stuck to his technique and stayed tight.

However, Bisping’s bad habits also made an appearance. He circled into his opponent’s power kicks a few times, and he also allowed himself to be distracted by the referee.

Until that happened, Bisping was winning without much issue. Afterward, his face had a few new craters in it.

Regardless of all the technical aspects of this fight, it’s hard not to be happy for Bisping here, even as someone who has never been a huge fan of “The Count.” Every fighter that gets into this sport has dreams, and most of those dreams end up shattered in some violent way or another. However, Bisping has toiled in this division and suffered tough losses for years in the hopes of someday defeating Silva, and that happened yesterday.

Congratulations to the English MMA pioneer.

This was an odd performance by Silva. While his chin seems to be a fair bit weaker nowadays, his skill and reaction time seems to still be fairly high. When Silva turned it on, he was terrifying, and it seemed like he could finish Bisping at any moment.

However, Silva only maintained that intensity for maybe three minutes of the 25. That simply wasn’t enough to overcome his opponent’s consistency, and it cost him the decision.

It’s unclear where Silva heads from here. He’s clearly still at a high level, but he’s also far more vulnerable. Additionally, the game plan to beating Silva has been written out, and future opponents will try to take advantage.

Last night, Michael Bisping earned the biggest victory of his entire career. Where does the Englishman go from here?

For complete UFC Fight Night 84 “Silva vs Bisping” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

The biggest card in the short history of Fight Pass had some crazy moments, and a world-class main event.

The UFC wanted to put on a major UFC bout on Fight Pass, and we got everything that makes this sport great and strange, with tons of athleticism, heart, controversy and oddities.

Winners

Michael Bisping – For parts of that fight, he just looked outright sensational. He took the fight to one of the best fighters (if not the best) of all time, and put on what was arguably his best performance ever. He was relentless in his approach, used sharp head movement and leg kicks, oblique kicks, and crisp combinations to keep the fight at his optimal range for most of the fight. Even when the bout turned into a dogfight, he remained composed and tagged Silva with some great shots. He had claimed that this was the easiest weight cut for him, and his emphasis on working with boxing coach Jason Parillo paid off wonderfully. Now, we do have to address his tendency to have a crazy misstep at some point in almost all of his fights, and asking for a timeout in the middle of the fight because his mouthguard was out may have seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but to do so that close to your opponent leads to… well, you kind of saw that, didn’t you? Had they both been at a certain distance and the ref could have acknowledged the mouthpiece situation without breaking up any action, things would have been different. Either way, Bisping fought valiantly through that and the cuts on his face, and said that this was his unofficial title fight.

He’s going to retire some day, and hopefully this fight will be the one thing we remember him by the most, as a show of what he was capable of at his very best. His praise after the fight for Anderson was also worthy of respect, and his emotional and tearful thanks for his team and his family was just another show of the real guy – Good Guy Mike – coming through. Some will say that the only way he could beat a fighter like Anderson was to fight a diminished version that’s nearing the end of his career, but the man fought hard for his storybook ending. Big ups to him for working to make his dream come true.

Gegard Mousasi needed to bounce back big after that devastating upset loss to Uriah Hall, and he did so by taking on the very resilient grappler, Thales Leites. as inconsistent as he has been in the UFC, we can’t really consider this a definitive statement on what his near future can look like in the organization, but his potential is still there. It got uglier by the end, but he stays safely in the top 10.

Scott Askham is is crazy fun to watch. From frenetic scrambles to crafty submission attempts off his back to the spectacular headkick finish of Chris Dempsey, this is the kind of fight you want to bounce back from a loss. Looking forward to seeing him again very soon.

Brad Pickett had a fantastic back and forth with Francisco Rivera in a fight I’m glad I was wrong about. Pickett and Rivera used all aspects of MMA in a wild bout that showed a lot of heart and both guys, and both of them stay in the winner’s column here.

Arnold Allen made a tremendous statement at the very end of a fight that was becoming less and less exciting as it went on. This kid’s going places. and his time at Tristar is only going to make him better with each outing.

Makwan Amirkhani showed he has the composure to withstand a full three round fight after having two quick and exciting finishes. His wrestling control is pretty great, and his ability to advance to a more advantageous position to deliver elbows and punches is far better than i thought. He continues to impress and he’s got a future in the sport if he keeps it up like this.

Tom Breese struggled with the grappling of Keita Nakamura, but ended up winning a fight against an established veteran in the end. Davey Grant showed a ton of grit and had a fight that may have been tougher than he expected, never really seemed to be in any real danger because of his defense despite facing an opponent that was doing very well on the ground for a bit. Rustam Khabilov looked pretty good against a guy that makes his opponents look bad, and snaps a two-fight losing streak. Teemu Packalen slapped a big exclamation point on the prelims, as did David Teymur with a fantastic TKO finish.

Losers

Anderson Silva – This one is difficult, because it really felt for a bit that part of the Anderson of old was finally back after shaking off the cobwebs. The jovial guy that enjoyed himself during fight week, the man who walked out to the cage and went through the familiar mannerisms and even started the fight off showing some of the older wrinkles was nice to see, but he was clearly diminished. It’s sad to say this, because all things considered he really has lost more than one step, and this isn’t the Anderson Silva that would have lost to today’s Michael Bisping 3-4 years ago. Nor is this the Anderson Silva that could be competitive with a Luke Rockhold at this stage. He still pulled out some of the classic Silva staples we love, like the front kick that ruined Belfort and the back elbow uppercut that slept Fryklund, and even a Jon Jones-esque spinning elbow way late in the fight. His leg kicks and body kicks were beautiful, and he punished Bisping’s body repeatedly with knees throughout the fight, as well as nice hand traps that led to some decent counters here and there.

As for the controversial knee, you fight until the ref says not to, so we can’t fault him that much for capitalizing on that sniper-level Tiger Knee. What was problematic was his acting like the fight was over, and while I can’t vouch for how good his English is after living in the U.S. for years now, I’m fairly certain he can understand “the fight is not over” when Herb Dean says it. Climbing the cage fence and refusing to come down was even stranger still, and totally takes another bit of luster off of his once almost-sterling image from years ago. He’s not done, and can be very successful against some fighters, but he’s clearly not where he perhaps thought he was.

Herb Dean – Sorry, Herb. Even the man that’s arguably the best ref in the business makes mistakes, and to be fair, that was a strange moment to be caught in during Bisping/Silva. Silva nailed Bisping with a knee that had him out cold for a good second at the bell, and while Bisping deserves a ton of praise for not only struggling through that and finishing the five round fight and still looking great after that, the case could be made that the fight could have and should have been stopped right then and there.

Fight Pass – Much like the inaugural Singapore event, a lot of interest of an online event is sure to cause all sorts of service disruption. Much like holiday shopping online, you’re going to have problems and for a card as big and as surprisingly consequential as this one, it’s a shame that so many users had such an unpleasant experience attempting to watch the event. Some commenters were even upset that people watching the event illegally were able to have a better viewing experience. I’ve personally been a fan of the service and a very vocal cheerleader for it, and things certainly could have been worse, but the infrastructure for Fight Pass does need some beefing up, and that update/revamp that was promised by Fight Pass head honcho Eric Winter can’t come soon enough. The search function is a bit of a mess and even watching today’s event after the fact was a clumsy experience.

Marlon Vera – OK, what took so long for referee Marc Goddard to finally ask for a translator? Vera couldn’t keep his fingers out of Davey Grant’s glove, and despite his slick transitions on the ground with some submission attempts, couldn’t get much going in this fight. Not to accuse Vera of anything here, but the deal with the gloves as well as the blatant fence grabs made his performance look even worse. He has to know that these things are illegal. Worst of all, he seemed to think he had a chance to win while waiting for the judges’ call. That’s a big bag of nope.

Daniel Omielanczuk may have won the fight against Jarjis Danho, but for all the Bellator heavyweight jokes we see in the comments section, this was not a good representation of high–level MMA. That simply was not a fight that did anyone any favors, and the gods of combat did us a solid by having the fight end the way it did to spare us any more. They both end up in the losing column for gassing out that quick and not even looking like professional athletes in the way they were performing. It should be noted that London is not Mexico City or Denver, so any sea-level jokes can die right now.

Chris Dempsey drops to 1-3 in his UFC run, and is likely to get his walking papers as a result. Likewise, Bradley Scott also drops to 2-3 and could very likely get cut as well. Martin Svensson had a rough go of it in his UFC debut with a quick loss, and so did Thibault Gouti. Neither loss is devastating, but short finishes can count against you pretty heavily in the UFC. And while Yaotzin Mesa technically lost a decision, he got slept in the closing second of that fight in a bad way.

Neither

Norman Parke lost a tough fight that was close, so no shame there. Keita Nakamura should probably get another shot with his smooth grappling and veteran savvy, and Mike Wilkinson is a tough and scrappy guy that won’t lose much shine from this loss.

Let’s run down the list of “Who’s Hot” and “Who’s Not” from UFC Fight Night 84: ‘Silva vs Bisping’ which took place last night (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016), nominating the biggest winners and losers from the UFC Fight Pass event inside the O2 Arena in London, England.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to London, England last night (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016) for UFC Fight Night 84: “Silva vs. Bisping,” as the O2 Arena hosted an odd, but overall exciting night of mixed martial arts (MMA) action live on UFC Fight Pass.

In the main event of the evening, Michael Bisping earned his biggest victory to date, defeating the legendary Anderson Silva via unanimous decision in a razor close five round fight (highlights here). The win was “The Count’s” 18th inside the Octagon, one behind Georges St-Pierre’s record of 19 UFC victories.

In the co-main event, Gegard Mousasi completely manhandled Thales Leites, battering the Brazilian for 15 minutes en route to a uninspiring unanimous decision victory.

With that quick overview of the night’s marquee bouts, here are your biggest winners, as well as the runners-up from London.

Biggest Winner: Michael Bisping

Over a decade into his storied MMA career, Michael Bisping earned his biggest victory to date, defeating arguably the greatest fighter of all time in Anderson Silva via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 84.

It may have been controversial, and it was definitely a very strange and close battle, but in the end the Englishman had his hand raised in front of his home crowd.

In the lead-up to the fight, “The Count” put a ton of pressure on himself, acknowledging his fight against “The Spider” would ultimately determine his legacy as a fighter.

He was battered, bruised, and nearly knocked out cold on more than one occasion, but Bisping never backed down in the 25-minute war.

Regardless of how you scored the fight, no one can ever question the perennial Middleweight contender’s heart.

A day before his 37th birthday, nearly 10 years since his Octagon debut, Bisping finally got the monkey off his back by winning the “big one.”

In my estimation, Michael Bisping has finally earned the right to fight for UFC gold.

Runners-up: Gegard Mousasi

It wasn’t pretty and it was hardly exciting, but Gegard Mousasi got the job done in London last night.

The 30-year old MMA veteran badly needed a victory after a colossal knockout upset against Uriah Hall his last time out, and he did just that by controlling Thales Leites for 15 minutes.

The fight was truly a snoozefest unless you are absolutely captivated by singular jabs and a one-sided beatdown.

If Mousasi wants to contend for UFC gold, he is going to need to put fighters away, but it is understandable for him to fight a bit more cautiously following his last loss.

Hopefully he is a bit more aggressive his next time out.

Brad Pickett

While I personally didn’t agree with the decision, it is hard to discount Brad Pickett after a gutty split decision victory in front of his home crowd last night.

In a thrilling three round affair, Pickett and Francisco Rivera exchanged haymakers consistently, throwing caution to the wind and swinging for the fences at every instance.

It was Pickett’s 15th ZUFFA bout, and the split decision was his first victory since March 2014.

“One Punch” was very emotional following the win, dedicating his performance to his newborn child, and noting he would have called it a career had he lost.

The win snapped a three fight losing streak for Pickett, and will likely ensure his return to the Octagon for at least one more rodeo.

Biggest Loser: Anderson Silva

It is definitely difficult to categorize Anderson Silva as the “Biggest Loser” following a thrilling five-round main event in London, but the former champ ultimately put himself in a position to lose a closely contested decision.

It is important to remember “The Spider” had fought merely once in the last two years following his horrific leg injury against Chris Weidman, so it was to be expected the former Middleweight kingpin would come out somewhat rusty early on.

In the first two rounds, Silva looked every bit a diminished 40-year old, getting rocked by a handful of combinations by Bisping.

Towards the end of the second round, Silva was nearly finished by a violent barrage from “The Count,” but managed to survive the onslaught.

In round three, Silva’s flashes of brilliance returned at points, but so did his antics that caused his brutal knockout against Weidman.

The former champ was playing games with Bisping, allowing the Englishman to get off his shots as Silva attempted to bob and weave, and keep his hands at his waist.

All the while, Bisping was scoring, and Silva was getting further behind on the scorecards.

Silva ultimately began picking Bisping apart in the latter half of the third round, and “The Spider” believed he had won the bout via a jumping knee that knocked Bisping senseless as the bell rang.

But referee Herb Dean never called a stop to the bout.

An odd sequence ensued that saw the badly hurt Bisping struggle to get to his feet, while Silva jumped on top of the cage celebrating what he thought to be a walk-off knockout.

It wasn’t, and 10 minutes later “The Spider” was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision.

After sharing his disappointment with the so-called corrupt judges in his post-fight interview, it will be interesting to see where Silva goes from here.

Is this the end of the great Anderson Silva, or does he still have something left to prove inside the Octagon?

Only time will tell.

Runners-up: Thales Leites

When Thales Leites returned to the Octagon in 2013 for his second UFC stint and reeled off five straight victories, some believed the Brazilian could potentially earn his second shot at UFC gold.

Unfortunately for Leites, two poor performances and subsequent decision losses has put his back against the wall and completely eviscerated all title shot discussions.

Leites was simply outclassed by Gegard Mousasi on the feet, as the Brazilian failed to muster up any sustainable offensive throughout the fight.

Instead, Leites was essentially a human punching bag, as Mousasi was content with coasting through the final round to win the decision easily.

Back to the drawing board for Leites.

The Judges, Referees, & Ringside Physicians

UFC Fight Night 84 was full of weird moments, and questionable decisions from both the judges and ringside officials.

The most glaring mishap was of course the completely botched ending to the third round of the main event.

Herb Dean never called a stop to the fight after Silva landed a devastating jumping knee flush on Bisping’s chin.

“The Spider” was convinced the fight was over, and began celebrating as Dean attempted to handle the situation.

Instead, it was just an absolute mess from top to bottom.

The fight ultimately went on, and even though Bisping went on to win, the ringside physicians completely failed in protecting the Englishman.

In my estimation, the fight should have been stopped at the end of the third round.

Of course we as fans don’t want a fight to end in controversial fashion, but fighter safety must come first, and that wasn’t the case in London.

As for the decisions, many disagreed with the judges in the main event, but that was hardly a robbery.

The strangest result on the card is a toss up, as Brad Pickett defeated Francisco Rivera in a highly questionable split decision, and Daniel Omielanczuk won via technical decision after a nut shot against Jarjis Danho ended the fight 90 seconds into the final round.

Very strange night overall.

For complete results from UFC Fight Night 84: “Silva vs. Bisping,” including play-by-play updates click here.

Last night (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016), Brad Pickett and Francisco Rivera squared off at UFC Fight Night 84 inside The O2 Arena in London, England. In a very tight bout, Pickett took home the decision. Find out how below!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight scrappers Brad Pickett and Francisco Rivera battled last night (Feb. 27, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 84 inside The O2 Arena in London, England.

Despite having a rough go of things lately, Pickett actually put forth a strong showing in defeat prior to this bout. He was looking for a similar display of skill last night, however, he hoped to have his hand raised at the end of this contest.

Similarly, Rivera has been struggling to put together victories in recent performances. That said, the knockout artist still packs brutal power inside his punches and was planning to demonstrate that opposite the hometown favorite.

Unexpectedly, both men were fairly measured to start the bout. Pickett looked to work his way inside with head movement, while Rivera attempted to maintain his range and score with counter punches and kicks.

For most of the round, Rivera scored with his counter punches and did real damage, limiting his opponent’s offense while scoring with his own shots. However, at the end of the round, the two finally let loose and traded wildly with both men landing hard.

Regardless, the first round clearly belonged to Rivera.

After a fiery exchange to start the round, the pace slowed down a bit. A minute passed without anything too significant happening, then Pickett scored with an easy single leg takedown. However, Rivera managed to escape from the bottom before much could happen from there.

For the final two minutes, very few exchanges occurred. Both fighters were slowing, and the action suffered. With less than a minute remaining, the most significant moments were an extremely brief takedown by Rivera and a picture-perfect groin strike by Pickett.

The two then finished with a flurry, but it was a very close round overall.

The third round continued at a snail’s pace. Pickett scored with a nice takedown against the fence, but he did so little with his top position that he was stood back up after about a minute of top control.

With about a minute remaining, Rivera again looked to change things up with his own takedown. He successfully finished it, but Pickett easily moved back to his feet and then landed his own takedown with a big slam.

He controlled top position until the final bell, undoubtedly earning him the third round.

Ultimately, it all came down to which fighter won the second round, and ultimately two of the three judges decided that Brad Pickett had done enough to earn the victory.

Despite earning the win, Pickett’s performance here was not his best. He looked a step slower than before, and his talk of potential retirement is not surprising. Pickett has been in the game for a long time, so it’s really no surprise that he’s beginning to slow down.

However, Pickett did use his experience to his advantage. By switching it up in the second round and beginning to look for takedowns, Pickett really helped himself out and created the opportunities necessary to win the decision.

Following this win, Pickett does not need a step up in competition. Instead, his role as gatekeeper to the top 15 is still viable, so he could either face off with an up-and-comer or another Bantamweight veteran.

Rivera didn’t look great either. He seems to have a problem blending the aspects of his striking, as he’s a solid counter striker and a dangerous brawler. However, he tends to fall away from his counter punching when it’s working for him, and he fails to swing for the fences when his opponent is tired and vulnerable.

Furthermore, this loss really ends any hope of Rivera as a dark horse contender. At 34 years old, he’s not likely to develop his defensive grappling or up his output much further, so Rivera’s ceiling has likely been established. On the bright side, there are still entertaining fights for Rivera that will show off his insane knockout power.

Last night, Brad Pickett edged out Francisco Rivera in a close battle. Where does the Englishman head from here?

For complete UFC Fight Night 84: “Silva vs Bisping” results and play-by-play, click HERE!