FightMetric Releases Report for Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping at UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez

He overwhelms. Constant pressure. You drown under the punches. Nearly all of his victory’s have been the ref stepping in to stop it (legit stoppages, mind you) or decisions. In his 18 wins, he’s got 2 armbars, a choke and one KO – only four “Fight ends NOW” moments. I personally haven’t watched every one of his early fights to see if the TKO’s were of that “ref jumping in, he’s clearly done variety”, but I can tell you from the past ten some-odd fights, that is an accurate statement.

Beyond the obvious chin and power issues, I think Bisping chokes up in bigger fights. Against lesser opponents Bisping absolutely overwhelms them with strikes and doesn’t stop to give them a chance to do much of anything, but as soon as he faces an upper level guy he’s not landing anywhere near as frequently and both Henderson and Wand simply walked him down.

Is an example of how we need 5 round nontitle fights. It seemed pretty clear to me (and the judges) that Silva was the better fighter. I am personally very skeptical about that anyway unless it is for a title contender fight, which I didn’t get the feeling this one was…

He’s got a very questionable head and accompanying style, which compounds the problem. I was hoping Wandy would go legkick-bodyshot-uppercut, because Bisping kept leaning in with his head. You can’t do that with a strong short puncher like Wandy, and with a propensity to get rocked by headshots. Eventually, it catches up with you in a very bad way. Brain trauma is cumulative.

Bisping’s too early on in his career to be so easily KO’d and nearly again tonight; he’s got to protect that head, otherwise this will be a very short career. Nog, Liddell and even Wandy are easier to KO nowadays, because they’ve accumulated head punishment over many years of competition (and they’ve lost some speed along with youth). Bisping hasn’t seen a ton of action yet, and he’s already starting to look easy to KO. He’d better change his style quick, get the head away like Machida does, and focus on developing a devastating ground game. He won’t last as a stand-up game guy; not enough speed, power or strategy.

To Bisping’s credit, he’s a hard worker and has developed world-class conditioning fairly quickly since TUF. Now to find a strategic approach for each fight, seriously build a ground attack arsenal, and design a way to win against each opponent.

Walt Whitman said: “Either define the moment or the moment will define you.” Bisping has positioned himself to garner career-building opportunities, but he’s only gone through the motions, rather than creating a strategic plan and executing on it. You can see the same predictable approaches in his fights, and denial when he feels people don’t give him credit or believe in his ability. I believe the truth is, he’s scared and needs to prove out his capability to himself. But now is the time to channel that energy born of fear, find competitive advantages, and learn to strategically approaching each opponent with a solid Plan A/Plan B in each event, specific to that opponent. Bisping has a moment, a huge life-changing one before him, and he must define it strategically.

Here’s what I don’t understand, Mike:

Your final paragraph basically encapsulates everything that my tweet – thanks for the shout out BTW – offers in the 140 character allotment, so how is it misguided? You agree with it, so therefore you’re misguided too? I know you’re not… see how where I get confused?

While Bisping certainly hasn’t been getting blown out, he has yet to beat an opponent above that middle tier, as you said. He’s held his own, but at the end of the day, he’s lost each of those fights…

At this point I am dissapointed that The Axe Murder is not wearing Bisping’s skull as a jockstrap.

I’m not going to sift through all the comments as it’s a Sunday and I’m feeling ultra lazy, but I will say this…

Hordes of us wanted Wanderlei to win, but we all knew that he’s aging, taken damage, and it was his first full cut to 185. Bisping isn’t loved by the fans, but I don’t doubt his skills. He’s tough, game, and dosen’t go over exposing himself. He had the right skill set to defeat Wand, especially when my previously mentioned factors are taken into consideration.

Bisping had the right idea, staying tight, and utilizing his wrestling…but Wand suprised me…he bounced up quick from each one, with Bisping accomplishing nothing other than killing time and energy for the both of them. My heart gave the first round to Wand, but my brain told me that Bisping took that first round due to takedowns and little damage done to him.

Then Wand rallied, and the fight turned into a war. He found the inside leg kick to be effective, and landed a few nice kicks to the body. And sure enough, he was clipping Bisping’s chin in exchanges. Throughout the fight, Wand showed that he was far closer to finishing the fight than Bisping was. I believe had the bell not rung in the second, Bisping would have been taking a nap. Wanderlei was fighting hard in the third, but Bisping looked urgent and was landing some SOLID kicks to the body. It was either man’s fight at the end of the round, and then it happened. Wand found Bisping’s jaw let again, and he crashed to the mat. He wasn’t finished, but Wand pounced and landed one or two shots.

I thought the fight had been stopped due to TKO, since I was in a bar watching, but it was a decision. Wanderlei celebrating in the cage and Bisping looking beaten was enough to show you who the winner was. Had Wanderlei lost, I feel like I would have to say he truly WON the fight, but lost the decision. It wouldn’t have been a robbery by any means, but Wand had the fight close to finished twice, and had alot of success with his striking, which was suprising for me…because Wand has been looking to punch far more than kick as of late, but hooking up with his old trainer seems to have done him some good.

In my opinion, this was a great, great fight. Bisping will not be relegated to gate keeper unless he fails to improve any more, and I worry about him staying at Wolfslair for this reason. Regardless of what Bisping does though, he is a competitor, and a great fighter. I don’t like him, but theres no shame in losing to Wanderlei Silva, in what is now going to be sitting in my top 10 fights of all time.

If only you and your corner think you were robbed, you probably weren’t.

Just to add to Mike’s larger point. I have watched guys who I have tapped in the gym and gotten the better of in full sparring (and I’m not any good) get to fight 5 round fights on the local circuit because a phony belt is put on the line by some used car dealer promoter.

To say that these guys go 5 and Velasquez, Nogueira, Silva and Bisping don’t get to because it isn’t a title fight…sucks.

Bisping’s problems are twofold. One, he doesn’t respond well to being pressured. And two, he still has no reliable way to finish fights. Until Bisping sorts those issues out, he’ll be stuck in neutral during his stay in the UFC.

As for Wandy, it’s hard for me to be objective. I’ll just say that his body has been completely remade. The move down to 185 was done properly. There’s much to be encouraged about going forward when it comes to our aging Axe Murderer.