The UFC 204 prelims did not draw very well, to say the least. The prelims were only watched by 678,000 viewers, which is the lowest number for a PPV prelims show on FS1 since UFC 191, which did 663,000 viewers in September 2015. While not always a good indicator but if a PPV prelim show
The UFC 204 prelims did not draw very well, to say the least. The prelims were only watched by 678,000 viewers, which is the lowest number for a PPV prelims show on FS1 since UFC 191, which did 663,000 viewers in September 2015. While not always a good indicator but if a PPV prelim show doesn’t draw a ton of viewers, then the PPV buyrates are usually low. UFC 191 drew 115,000 buys.
UFC 204 took place on Saturday, October 8 in Manchester, England. The UFC Fight Pass prelims started at 6:30PM/3:30PM ETPT with two bouts while the FOX Sports 1 prelims aired at 8PM/5PM ETPT with four bouts. The main card (PPV) aired at 10PM/7PM ETPT with four bouts. Iuri Alcantara vs. Brad Pickett, Davey Grant vs. Damian Stasiak, Leon Edwards vs. Albert Tumenov, and Marc Diakiese vs. Lukasz Sajewski were featured on the FS1 prelims.
The viewership number for the UFC 204 prelims were down compared to the UFC 203 prelims, which did 870,000 viewers. The average viewership number for PPV prelims on FS1 is 1,104,000 viewers.
The event went up against stiff competition as the show went up against the Alabama – Arkansas game on ESPN did 4,444 million viewers as well as the MLB playoff game between the Giants and Cubs, which did 4,605 million viewers on the MLB Network.
Following a lengthy string of weekly events, the UFC is taking some time off and will not hold another event until the November 5th TUF Latin America season three finale in Mexico City on November 5th, which is headlined by former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos taking on Tony Ferguson.
Michael Bisping successfully defended his UFC middleweight title for the very first time at last weekend’s (October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from his home of Manchester, England, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Dan Henderson in a five round war that left him battered and bloodied, albeit still the titleholder. With his first title defense
Michael Bisping successfully defended his UFC middleweight title for the very first time at last weekend’s (October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from his home of Manchester, England, scoring a unanimous decision victory over Dan Henderson in a five round war that left him battered and bloodied, albeit still the titleholder.
With his first title defense now in the rear-view mirror, Bisping can look at what lies ahead, and it may only get tougher for him from here on out. The murder’s row of middleweight contenders will be competing next month to earn the next shot at divisional supremacy.
Let’s take a deeper look into potential opponents for Bisping and how he may fare against each of them:
Chris Weidman
No. 2-ranked former champion Chris Weidman hasn’t competed since surrendering his title to Luke Rockhold at last December’s UFC 194, but he’s set to return to action at November 12’s UFC 205 from New York against No. 4-ranked Yoel Romero.
Weidman was actually scheduled to rematch Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199, but he was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. Bisping stepped up on short notice and took out Rockhold to become the undisputed champion. With that being said, if Weidman can indeed get by Romero, a man who’s won seven straight UFC bouts, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him receive the next title shot.
In terms of how Bisping and Weidman stack up against each other, it would undoubtedly be an interesting clash from a stylistic standpoint.
Weidman has always been a tough and gritty wrestling-based fighter with powerful and ever-improving striking as well as strong submission skills. In my opinion, Bisping may hold the pure striking advantage in terms of combinations, movement, and footwork, although I’d give Weidman the advantage in the grappling department.
Bisping, however, has always had solid takedown defense, and keeping the fight on the feet against Weidman would be a crucial factor. To defend his title against the ex-champion, “The Count” would likely have to use his speed and angles to pick Weidman apart on the feet, while avoiding the New York native’s power. I simply don’t see him having much success if Weidman gets a hold of him.
After successfully defending his middleweight title for the very first time at this past weekend’s (October 8, 2016) UFC 204 against Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping took the time to call out the division’s top four contenders: Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero. Next month, Rockhold and Souza will face off, and Weidman
After successfully defending his middleweight title for the very first time at this past weekend’s (October 8, 2016) UFC 204 against Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping took the time to call out the division’s top four contenders: Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero.
Next month, Rockhold and Souza will face off, and Weidman and Romero will scrap with the winner of either bout possibly receiving the next shot at “The Count”.
While Bisping may have generated a bit more interest in the division with his words, Weidman feels as if the champion ‘embarrassed’ himself. The ex-champion also felt as if Bisping ‘barely’ beat Henderson, a man ranked outside of the division’s top 10:
”That guy had it in his head before the fight, and told himself, ‘after I dominate Dan Henderson, I’m going to get on the mic and call out all these four guys and say certain things about them, and it’s going to look really cool,’” Weidman said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “But the guy, he shouldn’t have done that when you barely beat the No. 14 in the division. … to get on the mic like that and call out the top four guys like he just did something impressive, I really thought Dan Henderson should have got his hand raised, so I was embarrassed for him. He can say my name a billion times and call me all the names he wants. That guy does not affect me.”
In fact, Weidman scored the bout for Henderson, who knocked Bisping down multiple times in the opening rounds:
“I scored it for Henderson,” Weidman said. “I thought he won the first round maybe 10-8. I think at least one of the judges should have given him a 10-8, I don’t know why that wasn’t even a thought, and then the second round, I thought he won, yes, he was getting pitter pattered most of the round, but he almost finished the fight again in the second round, then he dropped him again. I think if you almost finish the fight you win the round, it doesn’t matter how long you were losing the round. He was never in danger in the second round so I thought he won that round. Then I also thought he won the fifth round.”
Weidman hasn’t competed since surrendering the title to Rockhold last December, and he admits that it’s still ‘weird’ seeing another man wearing the title, especially one that he doesn’t feel deserves to be atop the throne:
“I kind of got used to it, it was kind of weird to see these guys fighting and that was the for the championship belt, and that was the champion in my weight class” Weidman said. “He’s out there and he’s struggling, it wasn’t an impressive performance at all, and he wanted to go out there and really show he’s the true champ of the MW division. He got the fight he wanted, which was crazy that he got that fight, and that’s the way he looked. It’s a little embarrassing.”
If Weidman can get by Romero at November 12’s UFC 205 from New York, should he be given the next title shot?
So, yeah, wasn’t expecting that fight to go that way. Dan Henderson once again proved the adage that power is the last thing to leave an older fighter. Henderson nearly flat lined Michael Bisping a number of times during their UFC 204 main event showdown. While most media outlets and MMA pundits didn’t give Henderson a snowball’s chance, me included, the veteran proved that the power in his right hand has the ability to make the impossible possible. Though Bisping showed heart and performed well in the last few rounds of the bout, is there a case to say that Dan Henderson actually won the fight?
So, yeah, wasn’t expecting that fight to go that way. Dan Henderson once again proved the adage that power is the last thing to leave an older fighter. Henderson nearly flat lined Michael Bisping a number of times during their UFC 204 main event showdown. While most media outlets and MMA pundits didn’t give Henderson a snowball’s chance, me included, the veteran proved that the power in his right hand has the ability to make the impossible possible. Though Bisping showed heart and performed well in the last few rounds of the bout, is there a case to say that Dan Henderson actually won the fight?
Before we delve deep into notion that scoring the fight as a whole, Pride never dies and all that good stuff, it should be noted that I don’t think the scoring system we have in MMA is all that horrible. Judges on the other hand can be complete incompetent. Now, let’s consider the fact that of the two fighters in the main event, Michael Bisping surely took more damage. While Dan Henderson may not have won every round during their match up, he did manage to land a few of those one hitter quitters on Bisping’s chin. Credit to Bisping surviving, but that doesn’t change the fact that Henderson was able to rearrange the champion’s face in the process.
Now here’s the thing. Other than the few moments of Dan Henderson hurting the champ, most of the fight so Michael Bisping styling on the long time veteran. Henderson didn’t throw in combination which meant that through some well placed feints and speedy combinations, Bisping was able to deal with Hendo with general ease. But we have to wonder if well placed shots with little power necessarily outweighs hard, brutalizing blows. The strikes that Henderson landed were more telling and brought the fight closer to a definitive conclusion than the work Bisping had done through five rounds.
The fifth and final round was interesting as well as we saw Dan Henderson rely on his wrestling to score some points against the champion. The round ended up being the deciding factor in the fight and had Henderson landed just a few more meaningful strikes, the fifth would have likely gone to the veteran. All that said it’s hard not to admire Bisping’s work throughout the match as well as his ability to take a beating and come back for more.
While we have to consider damage as the biggest criteria in a match up, the truth of the matter is that until the scoring system is changed, there’s no way a fighter can simply rely on landing damaging blows to win a fight. One hard shot can’t outweigh the dozens of strikes Bisping was able to land. Would have been nice to see Henderson make history and walk away with the belt, but he’ll just have to settle on having an amazing career with Hall of Fame status written all over it.
Who do you think won the main event of UFC 204?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
Longtime MMA star Dan Henderson officially retired after his close unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping in the main event of last night’s (Sat., October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, and he did so in the style that only the heavy-hitting “Hendo” could. A throwback to an earlier era of MMA
Longtime MMA star Dan Henderson officially retired after his close unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping in the main event of last night’s (Sat., October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, and he did so in the style that only the heavy-hitting “Hendo” could.
A throwback to an earlier era of MMA where fighters fought to compete rather than gather social media followers, “Hendo” went out with a bang by nearly finishing now-champ Bisping in the same fashion in which he so iconically did at 2009’s UFC 100. In the end, the 46-year-old Henderson was edged out by Bisping’s far superior aggression, striking volume, and accuracy, but the two “H-Bombs” that nearly put “The Count’s” lights out in the first and second round were more than enough for most Hendo fans to believe their man had done enough to win.
While that’s a tough proposition to do against the champion in his home (and in a fight where he rarely pushed the action), the once-named “Hollywood” made things as dramatic as ever, and that is why he will go down as one of the most revered fighters in UFC and MMA history.
His story is a unique one. After a Greco Roman wrestling career that twice saw him compete in the Summer Olympics, Henderson first fought in the UFC in only his third MMA fight, defeating Allan Goes by decision on May 15, 1998 before outlasting Carlos Newton on the same night to win the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Final. After a string of six decision wins in seven bouts saw him dubbed “Decision Dan,” Hendo refuted the notion by becoming “Hollywood” in Pride due to his highlight reel finishes.
There, he fought a who’s who of Japanese MMA at the time, winning the welterweight championship and defeating Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight belt to become the first simultaneous two-weight champion in Pride. He remains the only man to do so.
In the Octagon, Hendo never won the one title that eluded him, falling just short against elite fighters such as Anderson Silva, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Bisping. Obviously he did etch his name into UFC history with possibly the most infamous knockout ever for his one-punch decimation of Bisping at UFC 100.
He even left for Strikeforce after a contract dispute following his historic knockout of Bisping, becoming their 205-pound champion by knocking out Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Henderson then knocked out arguably the best heavyweight of all-time when he floored Fedor Emelianenko in 2011.
That was enough for the UFC to re-sign him, and his third UFC run began with a fight that many feel may be the greatest MMA bout of all-time, his classic UFC 139 war with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It was the kind of bouts fans came to love and respect from Henderson.
That fight lead to a light heavyweight champion to dominant then-champ Jon Jones, but the bout never happened when Henderson injured his knee and ‘Bones’ refused to fight anyone on short notice, leading to the the promotion’s first ever cancellation of an event with UFC 151.
Hendo never seemed to quite bounce back from the over yearlong layoff that resulted, dropping narrow, uninspired split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans in 2013 before he was knocked out by the almost superhuman force of TRT-era Vitor Belfort (yes, it also deserves to be noted that Henderson was a pioneer of sorts of TRT use in MMA, being one of the first to secure a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for the treatment).
His UFC run ended with seven losses in his last 10 bouts, but any MMA fan couldn’t help but forget all about those when Henderson rallied to knock out Hector Lombard with, of all things, a back-elbow, head kick, forearm smash combination at UFC 199. It was enough to get him a revenge-based title shot against Bisping despite the backlash due to the bout’s accused refusal to adhere to anything close to resembling a fair rankings system.
It happened, and Henderson and Bisping delivered a classic. True, Henderson came up just short, but even the Manchester fans gave him a rousing ovation after he nearly knocked out their famed hometown champion on more than one occasion.
Henderson was a throwback of MMA gone past who still brought the excitement needed to gain attention in today’s increasingly fast-paced, attention-starved world. There simply won’t be another fighter like him, and while he may not have had his hand raised every time, it was most certainly guaranteed you would be seeing a show.
“Hendo,” “Hollywood,” “Dangerous,” or even “Decision Dan,” Henderson was, is, and always will be an MMA legend. In his case, the UFC belt doesn’t prove or disprove that, yet he battled the only way he knew how to in one last war last with Bisping night.
Now that this month’s UFC 204 pay-per-view is officially behind us, it’s time to take a peek at what the fighters who competed on the Manchester-hosted fight card earned via their mandatory Reebok sponsorship/outfitting deals.
Below are the figures …
Now that this month’s UFC 204 pay-per-view is officially behind us, it’s time to take a peek at what the fighters who competed on the Manchester-hosted fight card earned via their mandatory Reebok sponsorship/outfitting deals.
Below are the figures that were released following the UFC 204 PPV on Saturday, which featured Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson competing in the main event for the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Bisping topped the Reebok salaries for the event with $40,000, while MMA legend Dan Henderson earned $30,000 in Reebok sponsorship money in his last MMA fight ever.
The following are the complete UFC 204 Reebok fighter salaries for Saturday night’s pay-per-view in Manchester, England:
