Michael Bisping beat Anderson Silva via unanimous decision on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 84 in London. To reach victory, he was dragged through the garden of pain. And never so much as when he pointed out to referee Herb Dean where his mouthpiece had fallen on the mat.
The greatest fighter in UFC history took that as an opportunity to land a flying knee that appeared to momentarily send Bisping to dreamland. But ‘The Spider’ failed to follow up, and the round ended moments later, providing ‘The Count’ with the opportunity to soldier on to victory.
In a post fight interview with Ariel Helwani, a still bloody Bisping placed responsibility for the knee-induced stitches on referee Herb Dean.
“Well, my mouthpiece left my mouth,” explained Bisping. “And there was a break – we weren’t exchanging blows. Of course he was trying to stalk me down, and I was using my footwork to back away. I was talking to Herb Dean, saying ‘Herb, my mouthpiece!’ … I don’t want to lose my teeth. Contrary to popular belief, the British all don’t have bad teeth. Mine are okay.”
“So, you know, I don’t know, Herb Dean really needs to … I blame Herb Dean, Herb Dean for all of this. I think.”
The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts are clear on mouthpieces.
7. Mouthpieces
•All contestants are required to wear a mouthpiece during competition. The mouthpiece shall be subject to examination and approval by the attending physician
•The round cannot begin without the mouthpiece in place.
•If the mouthpiece is involuntarily dislodged during competition, the referee shall call time, clean the mouthpiece, and reinsert the mouthpiece at the first opportune moment without interfering with the immediate action.
The question is, was there an “opportune moment without interfering with the immediate action,” during which Dean could have called time to clean and reinsert the mouthpiece?
Can we go back to the end of round 3?! #WhatHadHappenedWas https://t.co/VqquhAt4Gn
— UFC (@ufc) February 27, 2016
“>February 27, 2016
It would appear not.
The proof would be the knee. Bisping and Silva were actively engaging. Dean calling time would indeed have interfered with the immediate action.
The discrepancy likely comes from Bisping’s misunderstanding of what it takes to reinsert a mouthpiece. Given that he was in the middle of a fight with the greatest fighter in UFC history, and that he won, who could blame Bisping for not having a world-class referee’s understanding of a fine point in the unified rules?
If anything the incident serves as a reminder to fighters about the dangers of losing concentration, however momentarily. Indeed, Bisping’s extraordinary focus for every other split second of the fight is what gave him the greatest victory of his career.
Bisping is now on a three-fight win streak. How cool would it be if he got a title shot, at long last …
