UFC 204 is in the books, and boy, what a night. While the card was short on top-tier talent, it was long on excitement with nine of the event’s 11 fights ending inside the distance with a number of amazing submissions being finished along the way.
But while there were officially 11 winners and 11 losers out in Manchester, England, not all wins and losses are equal.
The biggest winner on the night was main event winner, and still the middleweight champion, Michael Bisping. The hometown favorite rolled the dice in a big way at UFC 204. While his opponent, Dan Henderson, was on-paper an easy fight, this was anything but low-risk for him.
A loss would have been absolutely ruinous for his career. His UFC 100 loss to Henderson still haunted him seven years later, and a second loss to the former Pride champ would have been irreparable.
Had Henderson won, Bisping’s championship run would have gone down as a fluke. And Bisping himself would have gone down as an enduring midcarder, not a longtime great. Bisping, though, managed to take the win in a suspenseful bout defined by Hendo’s early brutality and the Count’s late dominance, which was capped with a feel-good moment in front of his family and friends.
Henderson, meanwhile, goes down as the biggest loser. Already regarded as a legend by many, a UFC title (alongside his Strikeforce and Pride championships) would have given the heavy hitter the hardware to stake a claim on GOAT status.
While this wasn’t an embarrassing loss by any stretch of the imagination, and he looked good even in defeat, having history slip through one’s fingers can’t feel great.