An intentional knee to a grounded Jorge Rivera and an aggressive post-fight celebration filled with classlessness and malevolence is all it took for Michael Bisping to become the most hated man in mixed martial arts.
One of the sports' cliché sayings is "Don't leave it in the judges' hands, finish the fight." The phrase is synonymous with the ongoing problem of poor judging in the sport of mixed martial arts, always on the tongues of fans due to the consistent threat of a judge's horrible interpretation of the unified rules.
In light heavyweight action, rising Swedish prospect Alexander Gustafsson impressed in his performance on Saturday night at UFC 127 by submitting New Zealand-born fighter James Te Huna at 4:27 of the first round.
Nick Ring narrowly defeated Japanese import Riki Fukuda on Saturday night at UFC 127. The decision, which was deemed by many fans to be highway robbery, was scored 29-28 across all three judges' scorecards.
Australian-born Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Anthony Perosh put on an impressive performance in front of his hometown crowd as he choked out British knockout artist Tom Blackledge in the first round on Saturday night at UFC 127.
In the opening bout of the UFC's free Facebook preliminary bouts, Chinese import Zhang Tie Quan (12-1) took on Jason Reinhardt (20-1) in featherweight action. Quan sported an undefeated record of twelve wins before dropping an unanimous decision to Danny Downes at WEC 53 in December. He previously defeated Pablo Garza at WEC 51 in his debut with the promotion.
In the other untelevised, unaired preliminary bout of the evening at UFC 127, heavyweight Chris Tuchscherer (21-3-0-1) and Mark Hunt (5-7) squared off in a must-win contest for both fighters. Tuchscherer was knocked out by rising prospect Brendan Schaub at UFC 116 in July in a quick one minute and seven seconds while Hunt succumbed to a straight armbar submission at the hands of Sean McCorkle at UFC 119.
In the opening bout of the evening at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia, British standout Curt Warburton (6-2) went to battle with Polish striker Maciej Jewtuszko (8-0) in a lightweight showdown of regional stars.
BloodyElbow.com's Leland Roling breaks down the UFC 127 main event showdown between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch, headlining the PPV event on Saturday, February 26th at 10:00 PM EST/ 7:00 PM PST.
