A rough night for British MMA, Dana White unphazed
Michael Bisping saved the show for the live crowd, but make no mistake – tonight was a bad night for…
Michael Bisping saved the show for the live crowd, but make no mistake – tonight was a bad night for British MMA. The nation’s top three martial artists competed this evening and one thing was abundantly clear – we may have to wait for the next generation of British fighters to finally crown an English UFC champion.
While Bisping decisioned judo sensation Yoshihiro Akiyama, he did so in a manner that makes his long-term success at the top of the middleweight division questionable. Bisping unloaded punch after punch on an exhausted Akiyama and never once rattled him. It was enough to win on points, but his inability to hurt his opponents will come back to haunt the Manchester born fighter.
Hardy was supposed to be the dangerous striker; Condit was the grappler from Greg Jackson’s camp who was going to stifle him. Instead, Condit beat him to the punch time and again, scoring the crisper punches and landing a succession of leg kicks. His amazing left hand is one for the highlight reels.
An upset win over Diego Sanchez had many proclaiming young Brit John Hathaway to be a future champion. Mike Pyle came in with a gameplan he never altered and it was enough to take him an impressive win.
There were some bright spots for Brits coming out of the card. More than 17,000 fans came out to see the fights, amd [rospect Paul Sass remained undefeated and took home submission of the night.
Dana White said the results won’t do anything to hurt the growth of the UFC in the U.K.
“Obviously, when you hit England and there are English guys on the card, there’s a lot of patriotism,” White said. “But it’s not really about what country you’re from.”
“No matter what parts of the world we’re in, no matter what country you’re from, some guys win, and some guys lose. I always say Georges St-Pierre is from Canada, and he’ll come down to the United States and fight a guy from the U.S., and more people will cheer for him.
“B.J. Penn fought here (in England), and people went crazy for him. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from. It’s about the type of fighter you are and whether people like you.”
“Fans … want to see Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping and Hathaway and these guys win, but when they don’t, I don’t think it’s like, ‘Oh f—, we’re never going to another UFC event because the English guys didn’t win.”
“Think about this: Two Brazilians fought in Montreal, and the place was packed and rocking. That was the main event, two Brazilians. Two Brazilians fought in Los Angeles, and the place was rocking.
“When you think about it, we’ve taken the whole fight business to a whole other level. You’d never put on a fight with two Brazilians in Montreal. It’s insane. It’d never work. But it does with this sport.”