UFC 204 (10/8): Bisping vs. Henderson II (England)

[Bernman]

Platinum's next fight (hopefully):

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Next time Spits headlines in England, they can be on the same card again, only this time Platinum takes his proper spot as the co-main. Or at least mid card ppv vs. another native English son Dan Hardy. Platinum either has a bit of a fan base in England now, or haters. Either way, Platinum wins, as he always has. Still undefeated.

[NZB2323]

IMHO Bisping's MW title means more than Conor's FW title. Conor had 6 UFC fights before getting a title shot, and has 0 title defenses. Bisping has been in the UFC for a long time and has only really lost to juicers(TRT or other stuff), and now he at least has 1 title defense. Also, MMA math doesn't always work. Just because Bisping looked bad against Hendo doesn't necessarily mean he'd look bad against other fighters.

That's a myth. Bisping's last two losses are against clean fighters (Rockhold and Kennedy). Also, Conor pretty much cleared out the FW division outside of Edgar. He beat Poirier, Mendes, Aldo, Holloway. Does Bisping even have a top 10 MW win besides Rockhold?

Bisping's 4 losses before Rockhold and Kennedy were to Vitor, Chael Sonnen, Wand, and Hendo, and he has a win over Silva who is ranked #6. If you argue that Silvs shouldn't be top 10 then that bumps Thales Leites into the top 10.

Conor has beat 2 FWs that are currently ranked top 10. That's hardly clearing out the division. A belt can't mean that much if you won't defend it.

[REDDzone]

If Mendes wasn't removed from the rankings because of a BS suspension, Conor would have beaten 3 of the top 5 FWs.

[lilfishi22]

I thought Bisping won, For me it was pretty clear cut. It wasn't 100% one-sided but I thought Bisping did more than enough to get the nod.

[REDDzone]

Trying to make it through fight companion for this one...Eddie has a chemical imbalance. 100%.

[lilfishi22]

Trying to make it through fight companion for this one...Eddie has a chemical imbalance. 100%.

I always enjoy the companions. Schaub, being his interrupting self on TFATK, is definitely less prominent but the banter is still good

[Cammo101]

No one was rooting harder for Hendo than me, but Bisping won that fight IMO.

[SDM]

Team Bisping (though I go volume over power when I score and I probably shouldn't do that).

[phanman]

IMHO Bisping's MW title means more than Conor's FW title. Conor had 6 UFC fights before getting a title shot, and has 0 title defenses. Bisping has been in the UFC for a long time and has only really lost to juicers(TRT or other stuff), and now he at least has 1 title defense. Also, MMA math doesn't always work. Just because Bisping looked bad against Hendo doesn't necessarily mean he'd look bad against other fighters.

That's a myth. Bisping's last two losses are against clean fighters (Rockhold and Kennedy). Also, Conor pretty much cleared out the FW division outside of Edgar. He beat Poirier, Mendes, Aldo, Holloway. Does Bisping even have a top 10 MW win besides Rockhold?

Bisping's 4 losses before Rockhold and Kennedy were to Vitor, Chael Sonnen, Wand, and Hendo, and he has a win over Silva who is ranked #6. If you argue that Silvs shouldn't be top 10 then that bumps Thales Leites into the top 10.

Conor has beat 2 FWs that are currently ranked top 10. That's hardly clearing out the division. A belt can't mean that much if you won't defend it.

That's a misinformed post as he beat plenty of ranked FWs on his route to Aldo..

Poirer was ranked #5 - who now competes @ LW
Siver was ranked #10 - close to retirement @37
Mendes was the #1 contender - suspended
Then he ko'd the GOAT FW in 13secs.

This is all not counting his early decision win over Holloway.. as I think both fighters are much improved since then.

When he signed to fight RDA.. then Diaz, at the time the only 2 fighters that he hadn't beaten were Edgar (who lost out on the opportunity by losing to Aldo @200) and Lamas who lost to Holloway and Mendes.

[NZB2323]

That's a myth. Bisping's last two losses are against clean fighters (Rockhold and Kennedy). Also, Conor pretty much cleared out the FW division outside of Edgar. He beat Poirier, Mendes, Aldo, Holloway. Does Bisping even have a top 10 MW win besides Rockhold?

Bisping's 4 losses before Rockhold and Kennedy were to Vitor, Chael Sonnen, Wand, and Hendo, and he has a win over Silva who is ranked #6. If you argue that Silvs shouldn't be top 10 then that bumps Thales Leites into the top 10.

Conor has beat 2 FWs that are currently ranked top 10. That's hardly clearing out the division. A belt can't mean that much if you won't defend it.

That's a misinformed post as he beat plenty of ranked FWs on his route to Aldo..

Poirer was ranked #5 - who now competes @ LW
Siver was ranked #10 - close to retirement @37
Mendes was the #1 contender - suspended
Then he ko'd the GOAT FW in 13secs.

This is all not counting his early decision win over Holloway.. as I think both fighters are much improved since then.

When he signed to fight RDA.. then Diaz, at the time the only 2 fighters that he hadn't beaten were Edgar (who lost out on the opportunity by losing to Aldo @200) and Lamas who lost to Holloway and Mendes.

If you're going to rank guys for when Conor fought them, then you have to do the same for Bisping. Bisping had 14 victories in the UFC before he got a title shot, Conor had 6. I think Bisping's 14 MW victories, title win, and title defense are more impressive than Conor's 6 FW victories, title win, and 0 title defenses. That's why I think Bisping's belt is more impressive than Conor's.

Everybody looks invincible until they're not: JDS, Cain, Machida, Wand, Weidman, Hendricks, Pettis, ect. Let's see Conor fight at FW some more and face a wrestler who's had a full camp and defend his belt a couple times before saying he's cleaned out the division.

[REDDzone]

If you're going to rank guys for when Conor fought them, then you have to do the same for Bisping.

Great, how many top 5 victories does Bisping have?

[NZB2323]

If you're going to rank guys for when Conor fought them, then you have to do the same for Bisping.

Great, how many top 5 victories does Bisping have?

Luke Rockhold, Anderson Silva, and Thales Leites were all ranked in the top 5 when Bisping beat them. I don't have access to a system that gives me rankings for past years, but Cung Le, Alan Belcher and Brian Stann were all ranked top 10, if not top 5 when Bisping beat them.

[REDDzone]

No way Thales Leites was top 5 last year. WTF? Also IDK if Anderson really was, but if he was top 5 in 2016 after not winning a fight since 2012, then whatever.

[phanman]

Bisping's 4 losses before Rockhold and Kennedy were to Vitor, Chael Sonnen, Wand, and Hendo, and he has a win over Silva who is ranked #6. If you argue that Silvs shouldn't be top 10 then that bumps Thales Leites into the top 10.

Conor has beat 2 FWs that are currently ranked top 10. That's hardly clearing out the division. A belt can't mean that much if you won't defend it.

That's a misinformed post as he beat plenty of ranked FWs on his route to Aldo..

Poirer was ranked #5 - who now competes @ LW
Siver was ranked #10 - close to retirement @37
Mendes was the #1 contender - suspended
Then he ko'd the GOAT FW in 13secs.

This is all not counting his early decision win over Holloway.. as I think both fighters are much improved since then.

When he signed to fight RDA.. then Diaz, at the time the only 2 fighters that he hadn't beaten were Edgar (who lost out on the opportunity by losing to Aldo @200) and Lamas who lost to Holloway and Mendes.

If you're going to rank guys for when Conor fought them, then you have to do the same for Bisping. Bisping had 14 victories in the UFC before he got a title shot, Conor had 6. I think Bisping's 14 MW victories, title win, and title defense are more impressive than Conor's 6 FW victories, title win, and 0 title defenses. That's why I think Bisping's belt is more impressive than Conor's.

Everybody looks invincible until they're not: JDS, Cain, Machida, Wand, Weidman, Hendricks, Pettis, ect. Let's see Conor fight at FW some more and face a wrestler who's had a full camp and defend his belt a couple times before saying he's cleaned out the division.

Title defenses aren't everything man.. especially if you look at Bisping's terrible performance against Hendo this past weekend. I'm not saying Bisping's run to/as champion should be discredited (I actually found myself rooting for him against Rockhold/Hendo) its just pales in comparison to what Conor has accomplished in such a short amount of time. Alternating wins/losses to SONNEN, belcher, KENNEDY, le, and ROCKHOLD were the primary reason why he took him so long to achieve that title shot and why he his story has developed as something of a feel-good moment.

I'd argue that Conor's 7 FW victories are more impressive than Bisping's just for the simple fact of how easy he made them look. 5 knockouts (4 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd) and 1 decision culminating in dispatching Aldo in 13secs, who was at the time a #1 p4p fighter.

I hate the excuse people give when discrediting his win over Mendes. Sure Chad came in on short notice but you also have to look at the fact that Aldo and Mendes are vastly different fighters so Conor also had to make the adjustment in fighting primarily a striker to a wrestler. Not to mention he took that fight with a injury to his ACL (which is always conveniently left out)

[phanman]

Le was unranked due to inactivity I suppose
Dollaway was ranked 11th
Leites was ranked 10th
Silva was ranked 5th

Rockhold was ranked 5th when he lost
Kennedy was ranked 6th

[REDDzone]

Being ranked 5th doesn't make you top 5 btw. The champion doesn't count as 1.

[NZB2323]

Being ranked 5th doesn't make you top 5 btw. The champion doesn't count as 1.

Then Poirer wasn't top 5.

Phanman, where are you pulling those numbers from?