Bisping: ‘I want to start racking up 1-hit KOs’

The date was November 14, 2009 and the opponent was Denis Kang. For Britain’s Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping, nine minutes with Kang was enough to transfer negative thoughts to positive ones and, crucially, restore every ounce of his crumbled confidence.

The one-and-a-half rounds shared with Kang encapsulated Bisping’s career, especially in recent times. Nervous and edgy from the outset, ‘The Count’ struggled to contain Kang on his feet and was even dropped by a right hand counterpunch. His mind flashed back to a crushing July 2009 defeat to Dan Henderson – the only knockout loss on the Brit’s 21-bout record.

Kang was a comeback opponent, but one deemed dangerous enough to prey on the demons circulating around Bisping’s head. The knockdown and subsequent attempt to finish seemed to cast the writing on the wall for Bisping.

However, midway through Kang’s ground-and-pound attempt, a strange thing happened – Bisping appeared to be enjoying himself. He seemed to relish the predicament and, after spending a couple of frantic moments beneath Kang’s assault, the brave Brit started to gain success of his own.

By the round’s end, Bisping pulled himself upright, broke a smile and fist pumped the air. Despite spending most of the round in a daze and on his back, Bisping had survived and even had the audacity to tie Kang up and land shots of his own.

More importantly, Bisping had not been knocked out. He got through the dreaded round one.

Nobody wants to suffer back-to-back losses and I’m no different, recalls Bisping, who lost in the first round to Henderson at UFC 100.

I was delighted to be able to turn the fight on its head and stop Kang in the second round, says Bisping.

The first round against Kang was difficult, simply because I was feeling my way back into things. Training for a fight is one thing, but you can never tell how you will react on the night – especially coming off a knockout defeat.

Despite the result, I know there’s still even more to come. I should have pulled the trigger in the stand-up more. I have got very good boxing and Thai-boxing but, for some reason, I don’t put it out there during my fights as I should. I want to start knocking opponents clean out in 2010. Stoppage wins and TKOs are all well and good, but I want to start racking up some one-punch finishes on my record.