The co-main event of UFC 127 had a lot of tension leading up to it as Jorge Rivera and his camp took to trash talking Michael “The Count” Bisping over the internet. It finally came to a head at Acer Arena on Saturday night (Sunday afternoon in Australia) as both fighters stepped into the octagon to finally face one another.
The bout saw Bisping land an illegal knee in the first round to Rivera’s head while his opponent had both knees on the ground. “The Count” had a point deducted and doctors cleared Rivera to continue fighting.
In the second, Bisping would score several strikes early and would eventually put Rivera down as his opponent covered up ending the fight at 1:54.
Afterword Bisping celebrated his win by yelling “Go home, loser!” at Rivera and spitting in the direction of Rivera’s corner.
BloodyElbow.com asked for a response from Rivera’s management who provided this response.
“For the Jorge Rivera – Michael Bisping fight – the knee was illegal and flush on the face. But instead of taking a dive and possibly the win, Jorge fought on. Bisping tagged Jorge while BOTH of his knees were on the canvas. He wasn’t the same afterward but fought on anyway. How many fighters would be able to fight on after that?
The stoppage was quick, but we won’t fight it. He won. That’s all there is to it. But for all his talk of being a professional, Bisping spit on Rivera’s coaches when the fight was over. How can you claim to be a professional after that?”
Photo courtesy of Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports