UFC 89: Bisping vs Leben Discussion ** Will Contain Spoilers **

Nothingcompares

I thought Leben won, I'll have to watch it again I suppose on the TV.

the booing was a bit sad to hear, a lot of bisping bandwagoners there who didn't really know much about MMA brough the football attitude with them.

Nothingcompares

Nothingcompares wrote: »

I thought Leben won, I'll have to watch it again I suppose on the TV.

I didnt think that decision could have been more clear cut. lebens face was an absolute mess while Bisping was unscathed.


Am I the only one who thought Vera was robbed? Landed much more precise strikes and busting Jardine open from the bottom and had a nice kimura attempt which was not very close, kept Jardine defending on top.

Axwell

Nothingcompares wrote: »

I thought Leben won, I'll have to watch it again I suppose on the TV.

the booing was a bit sad to hear, a lot of bisping bandwagoners there who didn't really know much about MMA brough the football attitude with them.

You must have been watching a different fight or be one of those bandwagoner types cos it was a clear win for Bisping

Dragan

Deleted User wrote: »

Am I the only one who thought Vera was robbed? Landed much more precise strikes and busting Jardine open from the bottom and had a nice kimura attempt which was not very close, kept Jardine defending on top.

I'm with you. I thought Vera had done enough to get the decision. Poor Vera went from finishing people off in dramatic style to something altogether less than that.

Then again, i have a lot of respect for Jardine, he is a good fighter who is awkward to fight.

Other than this I think i got all my calls right on this one, except for Baron.

Evil_Clown

Full post press conference

http://videos.mmaweekly.com/view_player.php?id=2814

dunkamania

I thought Vera won as well. Altough he is not as good a all the hype would suggest. With the Filipino connection, he is not going anywhere.

Solid gameplan by Bisping, did just enough damage to win. Was not pretty to watch though, and its unlikely he will ever be a PPV draw.

Decent perfomance from Marcus, and pretty much guarantees we will see him in January. His "Irish" thing is a bit sill but he always brings exciting fights.

Really enjoyed the Cain Sokoudjou fight, impressive performance from Banha, Sokoudjou appears to have been overhyped.

Carwin vs Wain was a joke

stevemc01

Dont really think he was that over hyped, he'd knocked out Arona and Lil Nog in spectacular fashion, however he does seem to be a 1 trick pony, like Houston Alexander with dreadlocks.

When a decent fighter does their homework on him and avoid the big shots they can pretty much take him apart, like Cane and Machida have.

Very impressed with Cane.

I too think Vera had the cleaner strikes and had done enough, although he needs to get the finger out, he just doesnt seem willing to push it into that extra gear anymore when he is in a position to really take a fight by the scruff of the neck.

mark.leonard

Vera deserved the decision IMO, but I can see where the judges were coming from.

Mike Bisping did a great job and I really enjoyed it, if some people begrudge someone playing it safe then they should try getting in the octagon sometime.

Cain's rop'a'dope was rocking.

lafors

dunkamania wrote: »

Decent perfomance from Marcus, and pretty much guarantees we will see him in January. His "Irish" thing is a bit sill but he always brings exciting fights.

Davis, has been asked about his "Irish" connections before, he has none, never said he has any either. He said it came from his nickname "the Irish Hand-Grenade", so he went with the kilt etc., as it built the crowd up for his fights.

Deleted User wrote: »

I didnt think that decision could have been more clear cut. lebens face was an absolute mess while Bisping was unscathed.


Am I the only one who thought Vera was robbed? Landed much more precise strikes and busting Jardine open from the bottom and had a nice kimura attempt which was not very close, kept Jardine defending on top.

Agreed with the Bisping decision. I still think he's a complete prick but it was a great tactical win imho. Leben has gone up in my estimation too, not fighting wise, but "not so much a dick"-wise.

Vera was robbed, no way was that Jardines fight........
And on the booing, I was at it, the booing was deserved in my opinion (and of the 9 others with me). It wasn't like the American, boo when the fight goes to the ground, it was due to bad decisions (i.e. Jardine) and not engaging on the feet, a few of the fights may as well have been sparring matches.

I'm going to have to watch it again, as the opinion of a lot who went to it, it was one of the worse shows in a while.

I heard the Hardy/Gono fight wasn't shown??
WTF? It was a good fight, with the walk-in of Gomo only making it pure legend. I have a video of it which I'll put up asap.

dunkamania

lafors wrote: »

Leben has gone up in my estimation too, not fighting wise, but "not so much a dick"-wise.

Meant to comment on this, he has grown up alot in the last year. I hear he is sober 90 odd days now too

ShawnRaven

Suffering sweet sh*t on a stick! Sobriety really has done a lot for Leben in the past couple of months. That fight was the best i've seen him in a long time.

I hated the guy but after seeing that fight, he took everything Bisping threw at him and was still standing at the end. I'd love to see a rematch.

Dan133269

lafors wrote: »

Davis, has been asked about his "Irish" connections before, he has none, never said he has any either. He said it came from his nickname "the Irish Hand-Grenade", so he went with the kilt etc., as it built the crowd up for his fights..

That's not true his grandparents are from Waterford he said, can't find the interview but it was posted on the ufc site before his fight in Belfast.

lafors wrote: »

Agreed with the Bisping decision. I still think he's a complete prick but it was a great tactical win imho.

why do you think he's a prick?

ShawnRaven

Dan133269 wrote: »

why do you think he's a prick?

I don't get the Bisping hate either. Sure, he comes off as confident before and after his fights, it's a sport where you *have* to be confident in. People often mistake this for arrogance.

There's a reason he only has one loss in four years, y'know

Vince135792003

ShawnRaven wrote: »

I don't get the Bisping hate either.

He didn't do himself any favours after the Matt Hamill fight. Apart from that, there isn't really anything.

ShawnRaven

Refresh my memory again there, regarding the Hamill fight?

lafors

Dan133269 wrote: »

That's not true his grandparents are from Waterford he said, can't find the interview but it was posted on the ufc site before his fight in Belfast.


why do you think he's a prick?

On Marcus Davis, when I met him in Belfast, I asked him about his Irish connections, he said he didn't have any, the Irish thing came from the nickname. If thats what the article said then fair enough, but thats not what he said to us.

On Bisping, I've met him 4 times (& spoken to him for a while on a couple of those occasions), the first time he was really sound, plenty of time for the fans, then every time after that he's been a prick, and I have at least 4 other friends who have met him and would say the same.
BTW, I'm not trying to take away from his fighting skills, I'm very impressed with him & how he's been improving, and like to see him fight, but I don't like him. That "my" opinion.

Dragan

Just a reminder about fighter bashing.

Now i'm not expecting everyone to say they love every fighter, but comments like "he's a dick", are childish at best and not something i'll be having on this forum.

If you don't like a fighter then by all means you can say that, but give reasons and childish name calling will not be tolerated.

As you can see lafors at least had interactions with the fighter he's not fond of.

You've been warned.

Dragan
Mod.

lafors

Dragan wrote: »

Just a reminder about fighter bashing.

Now i'm not expecting everyone to say they love every fighter, but comments like "he's a dick", are childish at best and not something i'll be having on this forum.

If you don't like a fighter then by all means you can say that, but give reasons and childish name calling will not be tolerated.

As you can see lafors at least had interactions with the fighter he's not fond of.

You've been warned.

Dragan
Mod.

Apologies Dragan, I don't usually use words like that on forums for the reasons you say there.... i.e. on an internet forum they sound extremely childish, and as no one knows you, you will be seen as just that.

I'll re-phase it to "the fighter in question imho is an individual that I would rather not have to speak to again"
.............He is still a good fighter though.

Fozzy

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Refresh my memory again there, regarding the Hamill fight?

I can't remember if he said anything immediately after the fight, but in the press conference the next day he was saying that he deserved the win and snapped at some journalists for saying that maybe Hamill was the rightful winner. He apologised later in the week because he had just found out that his father had been robbed (maybe mugged?) before he went into the press conference and he was in a bad mood

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote: »

I can't remember if he said anything immediately after the fight,

He was generally disrespectful in his post fight interview. I vaguely remember him saying to Hamill "Wrestler, go home" which was kind of inaccurate in that Hamill more than held his own on the feet.

Plus there was a feeling of Hamill being somewhat robbed with the decision (I vehemently thought Hamill won but you could argue either way to me upon reflection). And if your part of the "robbery" of a deaf guy in a foreign country, who comes out to Born in the USA, that's shown free on Spike tv, you're gonna take some flack.

I actually believe the reason why Bisping/Evans did so well in terms of ppv buys was because of the controversy in the Hamill fight and peoples anger over it.

ShawnRaven

Fozzy wrote: »

I can't remember if he said anything immediately after the fight, but in the press conference the next day he was saying that he deserved the win and snapped at some journalists for saying that maybe Hamill was the rightful winner. He apologised later in the week because he had just found out that his father had been robbed (maybe mugged?) before he went into the press conference and he was in a bad mood

Oh yeah, this is beginning to come back to me now.

Vince135792003 wrote: »

He was generally disrespectful in his post fight interview. I vaguely remember him saying to Hamill "Wrestler, go home" which was kind of inaccurate in that Hamill more than held his own on the feet.

Fair point, but to be honest, Bisping isn't the first one to pull that crap off in post match interviews, nor will he be the last.

Plus there was a feeling of Hamill being somewhat robbed with the decision (I vehemently thought Hamill won but you could argue either way to me upon reflection). And if your part of the "robbery" of a deaf guy in a foreign country, who comes out to Born in the USA, that's shown free on Spike tv, you're gonna take some flack.

Oh don't give me that please. I'm not gonna feel sorry for Hamill because he's deaf, he knew what profession he was walking into with a handicap. If he wants to play lumberjack, he can carry his end of the load. Personally i'm not a big fan of Hamill. Anytime i see him, i have visions of the "Where id my dteak!" incident from TUF. Headwrecking! Bad idea coming out to Born in the USA in the UK too, not like he could hear the chorus of boos though! And you can hardly say he "stole" his other victories. He didn't "steal" his victory over Leben the other night, that's for damn sure.

I actually believe the reason why Bisping/Evans did so well in terms of ppv buys was because of the controversy in the Hamill fight and peoples anger over it.

Well US fans wanting to see Bisping "get his" will generally increase buys, that speaks for itself, i'll give you that.

Vince135792003

Read what I wrote. You've missed my point.

I'm not asking you or anyone to feel sorry for Hamill at all. That wasn't my point. I was giving you my take on how the negativity towards Bisping started particularly amongst American fans.

And in business terms it wasn't a bad thing either. Rashad and Bisping in November of last year, 2 months after the Hamill fight did 400 thousand buys and it wasn't because of Evans in my opinion.

Dragan

The reason people are negative towards Bisping is simply a culture clash.

He gets a lot of air time, has a certain personality type that we are very used to in Ireland/England/Scotland etc but that is not really accepted in the States.

We see loud as just being loud, Americans tend to see loud as also being cocky. The main arguments i see against Bisping on the various forums are the same tired arguments wheeled out against everyone that the posters in question decide they don't like.

At first Leben was going to crush him. Then he fought a great fight and got the Decision. So now he can't knock Leben out, he can't hurt Leben, he runs away etc etc.

The people who are saying such things have no interest in Mixed Martial Arts and the various facets of the sport, not as a whole. Oh i am sure they can ream off fighters records and have degree's in MMAth but they lack an overall understanding of the game.

Imagine the kind of mind who wants a fighter to lose and then calls that fighter boring or a terrible fighter because they fought a game plan that got them the win. I mean, these people want to see someone get knocked out, or subbed, but they do not want to watch anything that might have to occur to get the fight to that point unless it means there own standards of what is "entertainment".

As was already said, maybe if they even so much as went to a class they might get a clue, but i doubt it.

ShawnRaven

Vince135792003 wrote: »

Read what I wrote. You've missed my point.

Ah i got your point Vince, i just don't buy it as the sole reason for the Bisping hate, Dragan's points about culture clash and seeing being loud differently did fill the rest of the voids though.

gimmick

Must say, I thoroughly enjoyed that card. I was not expecting much, but every fight pretty much delivered. I am always impressed with Marcus Davis, and his fight was probably my favourite of the night.

Thought Jardine Vera could ahve went either way, and as it was, it was the slimmest of margins. Was surprised at the UD for Bisping Leben. While I don't argue with the fact that Bisping was the winner, I certainly would have thought it was closer.

t-ha

Samy Schiavo v Per Eklund up on mmascraps: http://www.mmascraps.com/

Great stand-up as always from Samy and good heart in the submission escapes in the second round. Looked like wrestling with the taller Eklund (and maybe some knees to the body) wore him down a bit?

ShawnRaven

Only getting around to watching the rest of the card now...

Anyone else get seriously pissed off every time the British booed the better fighter every time one of their own got knocked out? I dunno what it was about this card, but it was really evident on this particular card. Especially the Carwin/Wain and the Lytle/Taylor fights?

You're expected to root for your own, that's fair enough but show some f*cking respect, you'e at an MMA fight, not a soccer match!