Michael Bisping made really hard work of his title defence on home soil last night

After surviving scares in the first and second round, Bisping managed to walk away with the unanimous decision victory. Despite getting dropped in the first round and taking some hellacious ground and pound, Bisping managed to somehow survive and finished the round smiling, albeit bloody and beat up. In the second round, Bisping was again controlling the action and really putting some damage on Henderson before getting dropped once more and having to survive another onslaught.

The next two rounds saw Bisping’s cardio and conditioning help him dominate a fatiguing Henderson with excellent feints and strikes, that kept him away from the thunderous right hand. Henderson came back in to the fight in the fifth and began hunting Bisping down but to no avail and, ultimately, Bisping had done enough to get the decision win.

The right Gegard Mousasi showed up in the co-main event

Following a close first round, with both fighters feeling out the other and wary of the power each other possesses, Mousasi turned it on in the second round. Mousasi started getting the better of the exchanges between the pair and after rocking Vitor Belfort with a right head kick, he followed it up by blitzing Belfort against the cage, dropping him to the floor. The follow-up vicious ground and pound forced the referee to step in and stop the fight.

Jimi Manuwa is a bad, bad man but for all the right reasons

Though he struggled to find his rhythm in the first round, mostly due to Ovince Saint-Preux’s tactics of engaging in the clinch in an attempt to wear Manuwa down, the Brit came out swinging in the second round. As the round wore on, Manuwa began to land more and more on Saint-Preux. Midway through the frame, Manuwa stunned OSP with a right hand before knocking him out cold with a left hook that had Saint-Preux doing the stanky leg.

Stefan Struve put on a dominant performance against Daniel Omielanczuk, earning himself a submission finish early in the second round

Initially seeming happy to stand in the pocket and bang with Omielanczuk, Struve opted to take the smarter option and took his man to the canvas. After working to mount and taking Omielanczuk’s back, Struve couldn’t quite get the finish before the end of the round.

In the second round Omielanczuk decided he wanted to take Struve to the ground, in hindsight it wasn’t the smartest idea and shortly afterwards, Struve locked in a D’Arce choke that had Omielanczuk tapping.

Mersad Bektic made light work of Russell Doane in his return to the octagon

Bektic and Doane exchanged strikes early on in to the first round before Bektic clinched up, proceeding to rag doll Doane around the cage with relentless takedown attempts. When Bektic finally got the takedown, he wasted little time taking Doane’s back and locking in a rear-naked choke to win the fight in dominant fashion.


AUTHOR:

DOM BURY

LEAD WRITER

Welsh BJJ Blue Belt and founding member of the Gunnar Nelson Fan club. Known vagabond and all round scumbag.

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