“That fight was ridiculous, okay? Absolutely ridiculous.”
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping thinks he might have called one of the best fights in MMA history this past weekend at UFC on ESPN 42.
The main event featured a Fight of the Night and potential Fight of the Year candidate between welterweight standouts Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland, with the former taking home a well-earned TKO (corner stoppage) victory between rounds four and five.
Bisping, who called the action ringside with co-hosts Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier, was glad to witness what he felt was one of the best fights he’s ever seen, crediting ‘Wonderboy’ and ‘Trailblazer’ for putting on one of the best shows of the year if not all-time.
“Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson vs. Kevin Holland might have been the best fight that we’ve ever seen inside the UFC octagon,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel (h/t Drake Riggs of MMA Fighting) “I know, that’s big talk. You’re crazy, Bisping. We’ve had a lot of good fights and maybe it’s recency bias, but in Orlando, Fla., Saturday night in front of a sold-out house, the crowd was epic. That fight was ridiculous, okay? Absolutely ridiculous.
“The techniques that we saw from Stephen Thompson, the showmanship and the gameness and toughness that we saw from Kevin Holland, and the excitement back-and-forth. I mean, come on. It doesn’t really get much better than that.”
He continued: “Both guys kind of agreed, it was kind of an unwritten rule, we shook hands, they said we’re not going to take each other down, and that was awesome. For these two, coming into this one, agreeing that they were going to fight, my god. Absolutely sensational stuff and they stayed true to that. ‘Wonderboy’ showed all of his skills. The kicks, the spinning hook kicks, the striking, the punching charges, were just unbelievable. But Kevin Holland landed a lot of huge shots as well.”
Thompson called out Conor McGregor after the fight, wanting to welcome the Irishman back to the Octagon for his comeback fight. Wonderboy is currently #6 in the UFC welterweight rankings while McGregor is unranked at welterweight but #14 at lightweight.