UFC 204 only had two fights go the distance. Leo Santos vs. Adriano Martins opened the event with a horrible fight, then Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson proved to be incredibly dramatic. Bisping survived the H-Bomb not once, but twice! Henderson had him badly hurt and dropped in rounds 1 and 2, but Bisping was able to weather the storm and beat Henderson just on sheer volume, which is typical of many of Michael Bisping’s wins.
That really was edge-of-your-seat type action. I really couldn’t believe Henderson was unable to finish Bisping in the 1st round. Bisping looked completely out of it and Henderson busted his face open with hard elbows following the knockdown. Round 2 will be a big talking point for many, as Bisping was clearly outstriking Hendo, but Hendo got the knockdown (followed by 1 minute of zero offense from top control) that may have swayed some to score the round for Dan. Rounds 4 and 5 (edit: I said 3, I typo’d) were close but overall I had it 48-47 Bisping, including giving Michael round 2 despite the knockdown. This isn’t boxing where you automatically give the fighter with the knockdown the round.
On that note, Henderson has officially retired from the sport, and he turned in one of the best performances he’s had in a long time. He went out on his shield, with an argument that he actually won the fight, and was ridiculously close to winning the UFC middleweight title with the H-Bomb. Henderson’s had a wonderful career, a ridiculous strength-of-schedule when you look at all of the opponents he’s faced, and the accomplishments he had in PRIDE, Strikeforce, King of Kings, and the UFC, you have to step back and admire his longevity in the sport and how much success he had (however much of it was TRT-aided), even as his skills declined considerably. All I ask of Dan Henderson is to stay retired and don’t get that urge to come back.
More thoughts on tonight’s event:
Main Card
- Michael Bisping. Wow. He nearly got KO’d by CB Dollaway. Came back and won. Nearly got KO’d twice over by Anderson Silva (some may argue he was KO’d at the end of round 3). He won that fight, too. He nearly got KO’d twice tonight by Hendo. He came back and won. The roller coaster ride that is the tail-end of Michael Bisping’s career has been so fascinating to watch, and as Mike Bohn noted, this is his first ever 5-fight winning streak.
- Who knows what the UFC does for Bisping’s next title defense? Now with all of my praise for Bisping, I’m well aware that his title run is 100% unsustainable, and he’s probably going to get wrecked by one of Weidman/Romero/Jacare/Rockhold (in a rubber match)/Mousasi, but it’s on the record that Michael Bisping not only won the UFC middleweight championship in 2016, he made a successful defense in his hometown. MMA, you so crazy.
- Adding in post-publish, Bisping hurt Hendo with a groin kick before the 2nd round knockdown. It wasn’t seen/addressed by Yves Lavigne. He groin kicked him again later in the fight, and Yves acknowledged that this was the 2nd time it’d happened. Uhhhhhhhhh....
- I guess “TRT Vitor” is best described as the period in time when Belfort knocked everyone out with a head kick. Post-TRT Vitor? The one we saw tonight against Gegard Mousasi? He got drilled with a head kick, which led to Mousasi eventually finishing Belfort. That was probably the last fight of Belfort’s career, as this report had stated, and it certainly wasn’t anything like Dan Henderson’s swan song. We’ll probably talk more about Vitor’s legacy later on, but not tonight.
- Mousasi called out Anderson Silva, which is a fight I totally don’t want to see, but if Gegard is up for beating some more Brazilians, he IS 3-0 against exclusively Brazilians this year.
- Jimi Manuwa lost round 1 to Ovince Saint Preux, but he arguably landed the best strikes of that opening frame. In round 2, Manuwa firmly outstruck OSP, kept it standing, wore him down with body shots, and then dropped him with a right hand, and stanky leg’d him with a huge left hand. Big KO for Manuwa and the biggest win of his UFC career. OSP’s lack of real technical acumen cost him against a powerful, superior striker.
- Stefan Struve was comically bigger than Daniel Omielanczuk (even by Struve fight standards), and he turned in a strong performance. A great d’arce choke to finish Omielanczuk, making him the first person to finish the Polish heavyweight.
- Mirsad Bektic completely overpowered Russell Doane and got the rear-naked choke victory. Good to see Bektic back in the cage; featherweight is a deep division and he’s got huge potential to be a championship caliber fighter. Kudos to Doane for accepting the fight only six days ago, and hopefully the end result isn’t a swift release because it’s his 4th straight loss.
- The UFC started the PPV with a tribute to Josh Samman, who passed away earlier this week. As mentioned before, Bloody Elbow will continue to re-feature Samman’s previous articles and fanposts over the coming days. May he rest in peace.
Preliminary Card
- Iuri Alcantara’s finish of Brad Pickett was otherworldly. The spinning elbow was one thing, but the way he chained the submissions together was gorgeous. From mounted triangle to armbar to triangle again, it was terrific. The Brazilian was sensational, but you can’t help but wonder if this was Pickett’s final fight of his thoroughly entertaining career.
- Davey Grant was beating Damian Stasiak, particularly in round 2, but he often left himself too vulnerable on the mat, and Stasiak did brilliantly to snatch that 3rd round armbar. I have no idea how Grant didn’t tap sooner, but his left arm is mangled to bits right now.
- Leon Edwards was getting outstruck by Albert Tumenov in rounds 2 and 3, but any time it went to the ground, Edwards was the boss. “Rocky” pulled off the upset with a beautiful rear-naked choke in the final round of a fight he was probably on his way to losing 29-28. A huge win for Edwards, and unfortunately for Tumenov, if he can’t figure things out as far as his suspect ground game, he won’t be contending any time soon.
- Lukasz Sajewski gave Marc Diakiese a tough fight for about a round, but the disparity in athleticism and striking abilities really were clear in the 2nd round. Sajewski was gassed, Diakiese was landing at will, and sure enough the touted LW prospect got the finish he was looking for. He had issues with the takedowns he gave up in the 1st, but otherwise he was as good as advertised, and I can’t wait to see him again.
- Mike Perry and Danny Roberts put on a hell of a fight, with Perry violently KOing Roberts (late stoppage by Marc Goddard included) with 20 seconds left in the 3rd round of a fight that saw Roberts probably outstrike Perry as a whole, but Perry’s big power made the difference in the end.
- In case you’re wondering, they never went to Mike Perry’s corner during the broadcast. I wonder why.
- Leo Santos and Adriano Martins opened the card with an absolute stinker. I scored it a draw, Santos got the win, I didn’t really care who won, we now move on. Santos has quietly won 4 in a row.