Bisping: Anyone who thinks Hendo won is ‘crazy’

Dan Henderson challenged UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 204, losing a unanimous decision. In a recent blog, he argued that the decision was wrong, citing the damage his punches did, and noting that in boxing a knockdown is a 10-8 round, and the got the fight’s sole takedown.

In Hendo’s defense, after the fight, Bisping looked like a jigsaw puzzle, with a couple of pieces gone.

However, mixed martial arts is not boxing. Dan Henderson lost on every judge’s scorecard, and a blog referencing boxing doesn’t change that.

“I’m almost positive that in boxing—which is where MMA got its 10 point must system—if one guy knocks the other guy down, it’s considered a 10-8 round,” argued Hendo. “According to boxing rules, where this sport’s rules originated, I would’ve gotten a 10-8 score in two rounds.”

That doesn’t matter, as Bisping made abundantly clear on his social network.

https://twitter.com/bisping/status/789539070452064256

Bisping also made the case in a Champions.co blog of his own.

He’s as tough as old boots, and I knew that going in. He’s still got it, that’s for sure. That said, the fight pretty much went how I thought it would, apart from those two right hands. Obviously, I didn’t plan on those, but outside those rights, he didn’t really do much. My boxing coach said, ‘You can’t win a 25-minute fight by winning two minutes of the action.’

You don’t judge fights on damage. That damage came from two blows. They were big blows, but they didn’t finish me. They didn’t even come close. You can’t ignore the other 23 minutes of the fight that I controlled.

Anybody that thinks Dan won that fight…quite frankly, you guys are crazy. 

Dan can try to come up with whatever excuses he wants to discredit my win, the fact of the matter is, he should be gracious in defeat. I won, fair and square. He put on a great performance, I won’t deny it. Well done to you, Dan, but guess what? It just wasn’t enough. They got it right on the #scorecard.

Bisping has now won five in a row, the best streak in his decade-plus UFC career. In his last three, he decisioned Dan, knocked out Luke Rockhold, and decisioned Anderson Silva. And he says he wants Chris Weidman next, if Weidman gets past Yoel Romero at the mighty UFC 205.