Dotseth’s Blog: Bisping’s Actions Tell The Story
Michael Bisping is a punk. Ok, maybe that is a bit harsh, but he sure acted like one Saturday night. Bisping entered UFC 127 upset by trash talking from his opponent Jorge Rivera. Rivera had made a series of videos mocking Bisping, which he then posted on YouTube.
The videos made fun of Bisping’s accent, and by all accounts were funny. Not to Bisping who acted like a kid who could dish it out, but not take it during the days leading up to the fight. That struck me funny, since it wasn’t that long ago when Bisping was the guy doing the trash talking. Bisping spent 12 weeks mocking Dan Henderson when they were opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. Henderson got his revenge by crushing Bisping with one of the all time classic KO’s in MMA history. While Bisping was also able to get the last word by knocking out Rivera, the way he got there and the way he acted afterwards is the problem.
Rivera was on his knees in the first round when Bisping hit him in the face with an illegal knee. Bisping denies it, but it looked like the move was on purpose. Rivera was clearly stunned and could have had the fight stopped winning by DQ. Instead Rivera chose to continue, and was knocked out in the second. At that point Bisping approached Rivera’s corner, yelled at Bisping’s team and spit in their direction. He followed that up by going over to Rivera, and instead of the customary hand-shake instead told Rivera “Go home loser”. Class guy.
Bisping may not want to hear it, but the videos made the fight interesting. Until I heard what Rivera was doing, UFC 127 had one “must see” fight. Bisping is a bore and his style is dull. Not really what I am looking for when deciding to shell out $55.00 for a PPV. Dana White did not go to the post fight press conference, and reports are he was screaming at Bisping from cage side after the spitting incident. The outspoken president of the UFC has to comment, and I’ll be interested to see if White takes action. I wish he would, but what can the UFC realistically do.
You’re not going to fire him. How do you suspend a fighter, and how much of a fine can you really impose? Bisping did apologize after the fight, and who is to know if it was sincere. Maybe he did get caught up in the moment(s) and acted in a manner he truly regrets or maybe he saw his boss screaming at him and thought “S**t, I better act fast or I might be in trouble!” The only true punishment will come the day somebody else exposes his glass jaw and leaves the loudmouth Brit prone on the canvas. That will be a day celebrated by UFC fans everywhere. Just wondering…how many fights does Dan have left on his Strikeforce contract?
