It was common knowledge that the UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le card was really about the main and co-main events. And that proved to be true, because the bottom half of the main card was absolutely wretched and should be erased from the history books ASAP. The prelims provided a mixture of bad judging, good performances, and standard Fight Pass low-end fodder.
The card didn't offer much in the way of quality MMA, but you really shouldn't have expected it when the bout order was confirmed. It's clear that Chinese MMA is a long way from being developed into anything vaguely resembling international competitiveness, so it's best for you to set the bar really low for future Macau and mainland China events. They're not there yet and you can't expect it to happen overnight, if at all.
- It was a great bounce-back showing by Bisping, but other than for trash-talking purposes, I really don't see how beating Cung Le suddenly justifies him fighting Luke Rockhold or anyone else in top 5 territory. We've been through this cycle time and time again and Bisping has historically been unable to get the win, and the division has undeniably gotten stronger to the point where it's even less likely he beats the likes of Rockhold, Machida, or Jacare. Give him C.B. Dollaway next.
- Cung Le's face looked like it was chewed up by piranhas. Both eyes were damn near swollen shut, and I'd say that most boxing cornermen stop the fight, but MMA cornermen are a lot more like Antonio Margarito's. Le looked good in the 1st round, but once he was busted up from the left hook to the eye it was downhill from there. I don't know if Le will fight again and I'm not sure he should continue fighting.
- Tyron Woodley is as boom-or-bust as you can get. He either provides you an "HOLY (expletive" knockout that has you on your feet in excitement or he can't get his offense going and loses a decision because of it. If he can correct that then he's still got time to be a title threat, and KOing Kim was a good start towards rebuilding his case for a title shot.
- "New" Dong Hyun Kim is fun to watch, he's scored some good wins, but I think deep down inside everyone knew that his recklessness was 100% unsustainable and in no way good enough for him to be a serious title contender. A better fighter, especially one with KO power, was going to come along and shut his lights off, and Woodley beautifully countered that ill-fated spinning attempt. It probably closes the door on Kim as a title contender, but he's at least transformed himself into an action fighter who is a gatekeeper for guys who want to prove themselves as being worthy of a top 10 ranking.
- Zhang Lipeng totally dominated Brendan O'Reilly, whose gas tank was akin to that of a 1986 Cadillac Brougham. That's all there is to say here.
- Ning Guangyou and Yian Jianping basically made the strongest possible case to never trot out a 2nd season of TUF China (or whatever it was called in China). If you've not watched the fight yet ... don't. It's barely suitable for the ONE FC prelims and is one of the worst fights in UFC history. That is an honest assessment of what ensued. Oh, and Ning won, but I won't pretend I was bothered to care after about 2 minutes of sitting through this mess.
- Danny Mitchell and Roland Delorme probably won't be fighting in the UFC again. Mitchell is 0-2 and unless he's absolutely needed to fill up a European show, he's not one really worth keeping. Delorme has no wins over current UFC fighters, and if Francisco Rivera didn't fail his drug test then he'd be 1-4 in his last 5. He told a reporter after loss loss to Yuta Sasaki that "he felt like he'd lost his job", which is equal parts sad and probably true for the Canadian.
- Sasaki's back take and RNC of Delorme was sensational. Another Japanese prospect in a lighter weight class worth your attention.
- Colby Covington's win over Wang Anying was a really obvious squash match, but I really don't mind because Covington is another welterweight prospect I'm interested in seeing develop. Covington could've won that fight however he wanted, but Wang tapped out from the punishment so that he wouldn't keep getting punched in his face any longer.
- How many more times did Alberto Mina need to hit Shinsho Anzai for the referee to be convinced that the fight did indeed need to stop? It was a bizarre conclusion to an otherwise sloppy and wild brawl.
- Royston Wee definitely didn't beat Yao Zhikui, but two judges managed to score round 2 for Wee, which ... yeah. According to Dana White, one of the judges was pulled from the rest of the card after this decision. The logical next step for Wee is to fight the Dillashaw/Barao winner.
- On Bloody Elbow, we have "rule #4", which basically means "don't insult and piss off the staff or else you'll be banned". Elizabeth Phillips committed the UFC equivalent of rule #4 with this amazing rant on Facebook following her controversial defeat to Miliana Dudieva in the prelim opener. When you vent like that and say "I hate the UFC so much" with an 0-2 record, you've pretty much signed your own walking papers.
