the Great British Hope?
The UFC journey began in earnest with a 1st round TKO victory
over Eric Schafer at UFC 66 before the show the UK had been
waiting for, when Bisping fought on Manchester home soil in
April of 2007. With huge media interest, nationwide advertising
campaigns and fan frenzy, the UFC and Bisping had truly arrived.
The hometown fighter did not disappoint, despite the intense
pressure and delivered a stoppage win against Elvis Sinosic in
round 2 after a see-saw and frantically paced opening round. It
was the perfect end to a much-hyped return and Bisping was in
action again the following year, this time in London, with the UFC
capitalising on their British star and using his fame to really cement
the UFC brand in the UK. It was a rockier road this time around,
however, with Bisping winning a controversial split-decision against
Matt Hamill, with the British judge actually giving the bout to
Bisping’s opponent.
The controversy over the decision highlighted the fact that Bisping
and his popularity had a ‘marmite’ effect and at the time Bisping
had no rival UK UFC rivals to deflect attention or opinion from his
every move. Matters weren’t helped when UFC 78 saw his first MMA
defeat, to Rashad Evans, again on a split-decision. This defeat gave
further fuel to a debate that had been raging, namely whether or not
he was slightly ‘too small’ to be a genuine light heavyweight at this
level of competition. After the defeat to Evans it seemed that Bisping
took the criticism/advice to heart and announced his decision to
drop to middleweight, a division he has subsequently remained in.
The drop seemed the right decision as Bisping gained back to back
stoppage wins at UFC 83 and UFC 85 although opponents Charles
McCarthy and late-replacement Jason Day were not major players
in the division by any stretch of the imagination. He had been due
to fight Chris Leben, a much sterner test and this bout finally took
place as the UFC 89 headliner. It went the distance and Bisping
proved effective at negating Leben’s aggressive style to pick up the
unanimous decision. When he was confirmed as one of the coaches
for season 9 of TUF it looked as if the “Great British Hope” tag was
more of a prophesy than a question.
TUF 9’s other coach was tough Pride veteran Dan Henderson and there seemed to be genuine bad blood between
the two men that gave the series extra spice, especially as they would meet at the culmination of the series at UFC
100. The series had really helped to hype the fight and it seemed likely that the winner would get a shot at the
middleweight title, a belief that had interest in the match at fever-pitch. When the dust settled it was Henderson
who took bragging rights, as a superb overhand right handed Bisping his first knockout loss.
In retrospect this defeat was the start of a train of thought that has gathered momentum in certain areas that
Bisping hasn’t quite got what it takes at the very highest level to become the UFC champion, the Bisping
‘marmite’ effect in full flow once more. Initially after the Henderson defeat Bisping came back strongly, stopping
Pride veteran Denis Kang, a dangerous opponent at UFC 105 and gaining ‘fight of the night’ in the process but
the train was immediately derailed with a defeat to legendary Pride veteran Wanderlei Silva in his very next
outing by unanimous decision at UFC 110.
DECEMBER 2014 BRAWL SPORTS 27