“What a fight” were the only words I managed to get out right after the main event between Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson finished. The second fight between the two, and yes, Hendo landed the ‘H-Bomb’ again, and more than once, but Bisping fought through and squeaked out a decision victory.
The first round was largely uneventful, with Bisping pushing forward and throwing left high kicks and jabs time and time again. So, yes, not much happened, or, not much until Dan Henderson absolutely crushed ‘The Count’ with the infamous right hand. Bisping went down, Henderson jumped on him and unleashed the flurry of all flurries, coming agonisingly close to finishing the fight, but Bisping survived, worked his way back up, and managed to survive to hear the horn at the end of the first round.
Starting the second round, Bisping got right in the face of Henderson again, surprisingly considering he’d just been hurt badly and had his face chopped to bits by Henderson’s shots. It was similar to the first round in many ways, with Bisping pushing forward, landing a few shots, but nothing big, and then… Boom! The H-Bomb, one of the most famous punches in MMA, the punch that Bisping has nightmares about, the punch that Dan Henderson has probably thrown a million times in his career, lands again. Bisping’s backside hits the canvas, and Hendo dives on top of him, but the Brit held on, survived, and got out of the round again.
Third round; pivotal. That’s the only way to describe it, Bisping has to win this round in order to have a chance to win a decision. He comes out, he starts the round like he has started every other round, and it’s going well for him, as it was in every other round. The deciding factor in this round, the reason this round was different to the first two and the reason Dan Henderson didn’t win this one, is simple. He didn’t land the H-Bomb. Bisping took the third round and it started looking up to him as Hendo started to tire.
Round four. Much of the same, again. Bisping coming on a little stronger this round, as Henderson visibly tires. That left high kick is continuously thrown by Bisping, and does land on occasion. He constantly sticks that jab and occasionally doubles up and follows it with a right. Bisping does throw a few hard right hooks, but for the most part, they hit the forearms of Dan Henderson, which are, by the way, probably very sore tonight.
Here it is, the final round, the deciding round, I, along with two judges, had the fight scored 2-2, so this was it. From what I remember, this round wasn’t the most eventful. My judging instinct turned off, and I started watching the fight as a fan at the start of the fifth. The first thing that really sticks out to me in this round is Dan Henderson scoring a takedown. Bisping was on the front foot again, but Hendo backed him up by faking a right and then scored a takedown. Hendo held Bisping down for a short while, but didn’t do any damage on the ground. It was almost over, then ten second clapper sounded, and then we saw the most amazing thing I think we’re ever going to see. Dan Henderson threw a, well, I don’t know the name of it so I’m going to call it a front flip kick. Yes, a front flip kick. It didn’t land, though, and Bisping landed on top and landed a few shots before the horn sounded.
An incredible, five round war, and it could go either way. Truly spectacular. Looking through Twitter, I saw various different scorecards, some for Henderson, some for Bisping, but the only scorecards that really mattered were those of the judges. “The judges score the contest, 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46” bellowed UFC octagon announced Bruce Buffer, “declaring the winner, by unanimous decision”… This was it, was Michael Bisping about to avenge one of the most violent losses in UFC history, or was Dan Henderson about to win the UFC championship in his last ever fight?
“And… Still!”
