Oct 9, 2016 That fight was way closer than I thought it would be. I'd probably have scored it for Bisping in an official setting, but you could argue Hendo 1, 2, and 5 pretty successfully. Definitely a spiritual victory considering his current state and it being Bisping's self proclaimed athletic peak. I thought Vitor looked pretty good until he took a nap. Definitely still a dangerous counter puncher. People want him to retire, but I'd rather he do that on a Brazillian card against Machida or Shogun or something. Anyway, Bisping has still been an irredeemable douchebag for a decade and the way he's so gracious after the Silva and Hendo fights doesn't make me like him any more. I can't wait until somebody eats him alive. You can't come out looking like a murder victim every other fight and stay on top for long. Surprisingly 9 out of 11 fights ended in finishes and Bisping only outstruck Hendo by 32 strikes according to the initial Fight Metric tallies.
Oct 9, 2016 Idk about giving 2 to Hendo. Bisping out struck him by a pretty big margin. Controlled the entire round basically until the end. Hendo got the knockdown, but I would have given that to Michael like the judges did. Both of these guys showed a ton of toughness tonight. Much more entertaining fight than I thought it would be.
Oct 9, 2016 Idk, there are definitely competing mindsets on scoring, most notably since Diaz-Condit. Should the round go to the person who controlled it for the majority of the time or the person who brought it closer to the finish. Big John McCarthy cowrote the rules and is very vocal about awarding rounds to the person inflicting damage and what not, though he defines damage more as a noticeable behavioral change from the receiver than as a cosmetic confirmation like a cut or something that can be the result of scar tissue and/or genetics. It's a pretty nuanced issue. I'm a big believer in scoring the fight as a whole since I can't accept that all 10-9 rounds are created equally. Getting pummeled should be worth as much as getting edged out. Ideally I'd prefer a 3 minute sudden death round for overtime in close fights. Kickboxing orgs have used that to great success, especially judges are more likely to go for that instead of sorting out a messy decision.
Oct 9, 2016 Fair point. You could tell Hendo was taking damage even if you couldnt see it. He was consistently backing up and out of breath. The timeout for the low blow was big for him, I was surprised he didnt use the full 5 min.
Oct 9, 2016 I mean, I kind of disagree that backing up means you're taking damage. Hendo isn't the most graceful outfighter or anything, but he was smart to circle out whenever Bisping tried to overwhelm him with volume. He looked in trouble once or twice, but never got dropped or cornered or anything. The two most impactful exchanges of the fight were him putting Bisping on his a---. If he would have stood in the pocket constantly he probably would have got lit and even more winded. Taking that 3 minutes or whatever is just gamesmanship. Hopkins would pull that same s--- on top of hiding some elbows or headbutts or whatever. Old men gotta fight like old men. I expected him to get blown out given his chin as of late, but he really did show a lot of fight IQ even while being a more basic fighter from a past era.
