Monday, February 29

Forget Nate Diaz: Meet the Man Most Capable of Manhandling Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor has captured the attention of fans in a way no fighter in the sport's 23-year history has. At some future point in time, maybe he'll be yesterday's headline. But for now he's king of the hill. 

In the cage, the Irish striker is one of a kind. His striking sequences border on sublime, flaunting a level of speed and accuracy that few can match, combined with a degree of power that has wilted every man put before him.

Out of the cage, he's no less sweeping. While MMA has had a handful of gifted smack-talkers over the years, none has been able to infuriate the opposition, and potential future opposition, the way McGregor has. 

Even when he isn't channeling his inner Floyd Mayweather Jr. and using his wealth to get his naysayers' blood boiling, people actively seek out what he's saying and doing, with everything from his tattoos to his toys to his celebrity training partners piquing fans' interests.

But while combat sports don't often conform to the rules and practices of stick-and-ball sports, there is one ever looming thing that they have in common: Success at the highest of levels tends to be short-lived. 

The moment that McGregor planted his flag at the top of the MMA mountain, by beating Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship, the question turned from "can he do it?" to "who will be the one to knock him down?"

The first man who will try to bring him back to earth, as you've likely heard, will be Nate Diaz. Replacing an injured Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 on Saturday, the fan favorite, who is known for his rangy boxing and superb jiu-jitsu, has the chance to redefine his own legacy by knocking off MMA's hottest act.

Unfortunately, while few would disagree that this is a big opportunity for Diaz, practically no one is actually picking him to win. The Stockton, California-based fighter's plodding style and minimal cage-cutting skills play directly into the Irishman's hands and will likely lead to a long, hard night for Diaz.

Looking past him, the matchup with Dos Anjos is no small task for McGregor. The lightweight champ has always been a great ring general, and he has recently tapped into a well of power striking to become one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game. 

Still, McGregor fans shouldn't necessarily be all that worried about Dos Anjos. Despite the Brazilian's offensive prowess, he still has noticeable holes in his defense, and few are better than McGregor at capitalizing on those sorts of openings.

Pinpointing who has the greatest chance of ending McGregor's undefeated run in the UFC should be more difficult than it is, because McGregor is that skilled and the lightweight division features so many good fighters. There is, however, one clear-cut favorite to dethrone him: a Russian grappler by the name of Khabib Nurmagomedov.


Who Is Nurmagomedov?

This is a more difficult question to answer than one might think.

At times, Nurmagomedov is the stereotypical Russian super-athlete. Channeling the mystique of the Cold War-era Soviet national ice hockey team that dominated its Western opposition with a robotic efficiency, he has sliced through his UFC opposition with scary ease. His upbringing, much like his in-cage achievements, befits a real-life Ivan Drago.

Raised in the war-torn Republic of Dagestan, smoke and rubble were the backdrop to his generation. Tension between the Russian government and Islamic militants living in southwestern Russia started in the 1980s and became violent in the 1990s. By 1999, when Nurmagomedov was 10 years old, things had escalated to full-scale war.

Dagestan, a region that has never been a stranger to conflict, became a battleground for Chechen warlords seeking to start an independent Islamic State of Dagestan and the Russian military. All the while, a young Nurmagomedov was first learning his way around the wrestling mats.

Karim Zidan of Bloody Elbow wrote that "in Dagestan, the economic climate has narrowed many of the youth’s options for socioeconomic stability down to two avenues: militant Islam or a career in sports." Luckily, Nurmagomedov's father, Abdulmanap, made that an easy choice for him. An accomplished fighter himself, Abdulmanap made a living as a children's wrestling coach and had Khabib honing his skills on the mat as soon as he could.

By age eight, Khabib was training in freestyle wrestling. When his son was nine, his father was literally having him test his skills against bears.

While one might expect Nurmagomedov to be a stoic killing machine with that backstory, he carries himself more like a full-blown pro wrestling heel. 

Since infuriating a raucous Brazilian crowd with a shirt that read "if sambo was easy it would be called jiu-jitsu," he has become the primary antagonist for a sizable portion of the lightweight Top 10. Crashing press conferences, getting into massive out-of-the-cage brawls and lighting up MMA's social media scene with constant barbs, Nurmagomedov has successfully jabbed most of the high-level cohorts. 

Like McGregor, Nurmagomedov has backed up his talk in the cage to this point.

With a 22-0 record (6-0 in the UFC), he has established himself as one of the greatest lightweights in the world. Unlike McGregor, however, Nurmagomedov is at his best when he's up close and personal with opponents.

It should come as little surprise that a lifelong wrestler is great at grappling, but Nurmagomedov has established himself as arguably the most formidable in the sport today. With amazing resiliency and a seemingly endless gas tank, he has completely smothered all comers to this point in his career. That hasn't been against soft competition either, as he's dominated steely veterans such as Gleison Tibau and Pat Healy; he even outworked current UFC lightweight champion Dos Anjos just under two years ago.

A growing contingent of MMA fans have come to see him as the future heir to the lightweight empire. 


What Makes Him Such a Difficult Matchup for McGregor?

In the cage, McGregor has been beyond question. He has faced no serious adversity on his crusade to gold and has had no trouble in knocking out six of his seven UFC opponents to date. The only thing working against McGregor's unstoppable mystique is the UFC's favorable matchmaking approach with him.

For the most part, the UFC actively tries to tear down its young talent. Lethal strikers are put into the cage against heavy wrestlers, heavy wrestlers are put into the cage with seasoned submission experts, and so on.

While that approach does effectively separate the true contenders from the rest of the pack, it also prevents most top fighters from developing an early "aura of invincibility" as the majority of champions and title challengers are exposed two or three times before ever reaching a main event. With McGregor, however, the UFC knew it had something special right from the get-go.

The Irishman was a finished in-cage product by the time he signed with the UFC, and had a fan following before ever stepping into the Octagon, courtesy of his at-the-time, over-the-top interviews in Cage Warriors. Rather than try to tear him down, the UFC decided to build him up by giving him numerous showcase opponents.

(Warning: Video contains NSFW language.)

McGregor's bread and butter has always been his deadly left hand, and he is at his best when he has the space and time to utilize it. With that in mind, the UFC matched him against opponents that played to his strengths, pairing him off with slower, submission-focused fighters such as Diego Brandao and Dustin Poirier while keeping him away from potentially troublesome wrestlers such as Dennis Bermudez and Darren Elkins.

McGregor eventually defeated a top-notch wrestler in Chad Mendes at UFC 189 (it should be noted that Mendes took the fight on a week's notice) but struggled to deal with Mendes' takedowns, getting dragged to the mat four times in less than 10 minutes. That spells trouble against Nurmagomedov.

There isn't a more relentless grappler in MMA today than Nurmagomedov, whose combat sambo background helps him to close the distance on opponents, setting him up to utilize his strong freestyle wrestling skills. That mix of disciplines makes him an absolute grappling machine, best evidenced by his three most recent fights, which have seen him complete a whopping 32 takedowns and break the UFC record for most takedowns in a single fight (21, at the expense of Abel Trujillo). 

Obviously, this isn't to say that Nurmagomedov would turn McGregor into a grappling dummy. The Russian's striking has never been tested, and McGregor is far more elusive than the likes of Healy and Trujillo. Add to that Nurmagomedov's terrible injury history and it's no guarantee that he will be as explosive after having undergone two major knee surgeries.

Still, nobody is better positioned to defeat McGregor than Nurmagomedov. The only question is if this fight will ever actually take place...


Will This Fight Actually Happen?

McGregor and Nurmagomedov have been nearly perfect thus far in the UFC, but there are many, many things keeping them apart.

If McGregor continues winning, he is likely booked deep into 2017. With a win over Diaz at UFC 196, he'll almost certainly move onto the previously scheduled lightweight title fight with Dos Anjos. What's more, if he takes home another UFC title, the writing on the wall is that he could go for a third belt, and challenge Robbie Lawler for the UFC welterweight championship.

None of those are easy fights for the featherweight champ, and should he stumble along the way, things become completely unpredictable.

Nurmagomedov's faces a far less defined path. His next fight though will very likely be the toughest of his career, as he faces off with Tony Ferguson at UFC on Fox 19. Ferguson, with a 10-1 record in the UFC, is an incredibly crafty fighter and has flash finishing skills standing and on the ground. For all his grappling prowess, Nurmagomedov will likely struggle to hold El Cucuy down for any length of time.

Looking further into the future, things become completely amorphous.

While Nurmagomedov would traditionally become the on-paper No. 1 contender at 155 pounds with a win over Ferguson, Dos Anjos most likely has that rain check with McGregor. That will probably force Nurmagomedov into another fight with another top lightweight like Eddie Alvarez or the Anthony Pettis-Edson Barboza winner. 

Unfortunately, it's hard to become too invested into Nurmagomedov's future. While his skills are peerless, his body just hasn't been able to hold itself together, which has resulted in a two-year hiatus from the sport due to multiple knee injuries. Three consecutive fights have fallen apart with Nurmagomedov, which makes it hard to imagine him suddenly becoming a steady presence for the lightweight division.

Because of all that, the odds are stacked against a McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov showdown. If both men continue racking up wins, though, the fight is an inevitability down the road.

Assuming McGregor wants it of course. 

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Conor McGregor Is on Steroids After UFC 196 Weight Gain, Says Nate Diaz's Coach

Nate Diaz's coach, Richard Perez, has described Conor McGregor's weight gain as "shady" and accused the Irishman of being on steroids ahead of UFC 196.

The current UFC featherweight champion was supposed to move up a weight division for UFC 196 to take on Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title, but the Brazilian pulled out last week due to injury.

Diaz has stepped into the breach for the March 5 Las Vegas event, but he and McGregor will fight at welterweight—two divisions up from the the Dubliner's last fight.

And Perez has echoed Diaz's accusations that the ease with which McGregor has added pounds suggests he is on steroids, per Submission Radio (via Bloody Elbow's Anton Tabuena):

I sure do believe that [he's on steroids], heck yeah. Some guys, they get busted - and to be honest with you, I know McGregor has got to be on some kind of steroids. He’s pretty big, and then all of a sudden [he’s] jumping to 170? Yeah there’s no way, because I mean, he was supposed to be fighting at 155. 

So if you think about it, he was focusing on training at 155. He only had two weeks to go. And all of a sudden he’s gonna jump to 170? So no, there’s something going on.

When Nathan mentioned it to him, he got defensive, he got angry. If somebody would have told me that I was fighting and he told me, you know, steroids, I would laugh and say, "yeah give me some more steroids, heck yeah, ah ha sure." But he got defensive and mad, you know, "I’m not on steroids, I’m not on steroids!" You know, he was like trying to defend himself. So that, just his actions and the way he talked, there’s something behind that.

Listen to the full interview below:

Perez added Diaz was "ready" to fight at 155 pounds but said he did not think McGregor could have made that weight, which is "shady" considering he was supposed to take on Dos Anjos at lightweight.

However, previous reports had suggested the reason for the fight taking place at welterweight is because Diaz could not have cut down in such a short space of time, per Sky Sports' James Dielhenn.

Whatever the situation, there is clearly some bad blood between the two sides ahead of Saturday's fight, and the pre-fight press conference was a typically combative occasion, per the UFC (Warning: Clip contains NSFW language):

Diaz, 30, is traditionally a lightweight and is currently the UFC's fifth-ranked fighter in the division.

His last outing was a unanimous-decision victory over Michael Johnson at the end of last year, his first fight after defeat to Dos Anjos.

Meanwhile, McGregor stretched his unbeaten UFC record to seven fights with a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo in December, per BT Sport:

The 27-year-old is undoubtedly one of the UFC's biggest stars, and defeating Diaz at welterweight would be a significant victory as McGregor looks to dominate multiple divisions—he took the Dos Anjos fight in an attempt to become the first fighter to hold two world titles at the same time.

However, if Diaz and Perez's accusations about steroid use are ever revealed to be true, it would be a huge blow for the UFC given McGregor's status in the sport.  

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The Illusion: Why UFC Star Anderson Silva Is a Danger to Himself

There were moments on Saturday of the kind of effortless brilliance that could only come from the madcap mind of Brazilian fighting god Anderson Silva.

Michael Bisping may have won the bout on the judges' cards at UFC Fight Night 84, but it was the 40-year-old Silva who won the highlight reel, his martial genius shining as brightly as ever.

First came the knee that sneaked in at the bell as the third round came to a close—the right obfuscating, until the last possible second, the left that nearly ended the fight. The front kick that made Vitor Belfort wince in commiseration followed. Finally there was the darting left-handed counter that was once Silva's calling card.

There were also moments during the course of 25 minutes when Silva looked like anything but the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time. When Bisping's vanilla jab thudded off his head. When the right hand that trailed it found a home as well. When Bisping, mocked by keyboard warriors as "pillow-fisted," staggered and shocked the former champion.

When Anderson Silva looked decidedly human.

Strangely, it was the fading glory that was sadder than the sheer ineptitude. Had Silva simply been outclassed by Bisping, a fighter more famous for his feuds than anything he's done in the cage, the message would have been clear. After 19 years, the last spent under the cloud of PED abuse, it would have been time to say goodbye.

For two rounds, it seemed Silva might finally be done. His entire game, built around his uncanny ability to draw opponents in with the ruse of vulnerability, only to abruptly dismiss their hopes and dreams with a bob of his head and a flick of his wrist, was failing him. A product of supernatural reflexes and a sixth sense that allowed him to see the action play out in slow motion, Silva looked hopeless when his powers abandoned him.

He once feasted on fighters like Bisping, as good as the Brit still is. Slow of foot and hand, technically precise but predictably orthodox, Bisping would have been a crippled mouse, Silva the taunting and playful cat. Never one to fight with rounds or the judges in mind, Silva waited for his moment to unleash a ferocity that bordered on sadism.

In his prime, Silva would drop his hands and invite his foes to do their worst. Capable of eating some punches and dodging others in action-star style, he would make opponents pay for the slightest mistake with his blistering counter punches.

People often miss the link between Silva's defensive panache and his explosive violence in the offensive phase. His taunts, dancing and cocky refusal to defend his face were more method than madness. It gave his opponents the illusion they had a chance, invoking a brief flash of courage often snuffed by Silva's brutal retort.

Against Bisping, little of what made him UFC middleweight champion for seven years was present in more than bursts. Punches he would have once dismissed with ease were finding his chin, Silva looking as shocked as anyone as Bisping systematically won minutes and then rounds. 

For some, Silva's brief fits of fistic excellence were mere reminders of what was once a constant. For others, such as UFC president Dana White, they were sufficient to win the fight.

Unfortunately, they are likely an invitation for Silva to continue fighting as if he were still a young man. He clearly believes he won the fight and will likely be prompted to make few, if any, changes.

There comes a time when every athlete is forced from the sport they love. In combat sports, it's all too often a moment marred by tragedy. This is a sport that can leave fighters worse than it found them, no matter how much money they make for mere minutes of their time.

The truth is, Silva is no longer the fighter we all either loved or loved to hate. His reflexes, deadened by time and his chin, diminished by years of abuse, can no longer carry him to greatness. Bisping, never a power puncher, was able to expose an inability to take a punch.

Another fighter, on some sad night, will leave the once-great man looking up at the lights. Maybe that will be enough to shine a light on the shadow of delusion and convince him to make the hard choice to walk away.

 

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.

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Sunday, February 28

Michael Bisping Takes Blame for Mouthpiece Confusion That Nearly Caused KO Loss

Perhaps the strangest moment in a strange fight came in the final second of the third round.

That's when, in the main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night 84, Anderson Silva landed an unabated flying knee strike on Michael Bisping just as the horn sounded. 

Bisping hit the canvas hard, and for a moment, it appeared Silva had grabbed a buzzer-beating knockout. However, referee Herb Dean did not stop the bout, despite Silva's celebrations. 

Perhaps even stranger, though, was the series of events that led to the knee strike. Bisping lost his mouthpiece during an exchange and motioned to Dean to pause the action. Dean did not do so, and Silva swarmed in to attack a distracted Bisping.

As most fight fans now know, Bisping rallied and held on, withstanding that vicious knee and other subsequent punishment over the final two rounds to take a unanimous-decision victory.

In the post-fight news conference, Bisping said he, not Dean or Silva, was to blame for the mouthpiece confusion. 

“I was trying to say, 'Herb (Dean)'—that’s my fault,” Bisping said, according to Steven Marrocco and John Morgan of MMA Junkie. “I’m too experienced to make those mistakes, and Anderson capitalized and well done for that guy."

Though it was not a classic bout, the back-and-forth, up-and-down contest netted $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses for the 37-year-old Bisping and the 40-year-old Silva.

The punishment Bisping took from the knee late in the third round and over the fourth and fifth stanzas left his face a bloody mess. Stitches were evident on Bisping's face at the post-fight news conference as he acknowledged that the knee strike nearly put him away for good.

“When the round stopped, I wasn’t sure what had happened. I was like, ‘Please don’t tell me this is over. I’m fine,’" Bisping said. "Of course, when you’ve just taken a couple of knees and elbows, your faculties aren’t exactly the sharpest at that moment in time. But fortunately, I got the job done."

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UFC Fight Night 84: 5 Burning Questions Heading into UFC 196

UFC Fight Night 84 is in the books. The results are as follows:

Main Card on UFC Fight Pass

  • Michael Bisping def. Anderson Silva, unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
  • Gegard Mousasi def. Thales Leites, unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
  • Tom Breese def. Keita Nakamura, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
  • Brad Pickett def. Francisco Rivera, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Prelims on UFC Fight Pass

  • Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-28)
  • Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera, unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
  • Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey, knockout (Round 1, 4:45)
  • Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Krzysztof Jotko def. Brad Scott, unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
  • Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho, technical decision (29-29, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti, submission (Round 1, 0:24)
  • David Teymur def. Martin Svensson, TKO (Round 2, 1:26)

Next up? UFC 196 on Saturday.

The card formerly known as UFC 197 is quite something to behold. Two of the UFC's hottest names, Conor McGregor and Holly Holm, sit atop the card, facing interesting challengers in Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate, respectively. The rest of the card features an interesting mix of hot young prospects such as Teruto Ishihara, Valentina Shevchenko and Brandon Thatch and recognizable veterans such as Diego Sanchez, Tom Lawlor and Darren Elkins.

There's a lot of intrigue to be found in the card's 12 fights, but what are the hottest storylines entering next week's event? What are the most important questions that will be answered? Find out right here.

Begin Slideshow

Anderson Silva Blames Corruption for Michael Bisping Loss at UFC Fight Night 84

Anderson Silva has questioned the validity of his defeat to Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 84.

Per Chisanga Malata of the Daily Star, the Brazilian said: "If you can't win in one way, they find a way to take it from you. Sometimes thinks are like in Brazil. Totally corrupted."

UFC President Dana White shared his belief after the bout that Silva should have been ruled the victor. According to Malata, he said:

"I have to watch it again there was so much craziness going on after the flying knee. But I believe that I had it even going into the fifth round and whoever wins the fifth round won the fight. And I thought that Anderson Silva won."

Both fighters scored heavy blows on their opponent during the contest, with Bisping sending Silva to the canvas in the second round courtesy of a powerful left hook. The Spider hit back in the following round with a brutal knee to the head, per #UFCLondon:

Here are the final scorecards for the bout which show all three judges had Bisping narrowly edging the fight 48-47, courtesy of UFC writer Gareth Davies:

The 40-year-old was disappointed with the decision:

However, he clearly bears no grudges against his opponent and both showed remarkable sportsmanship, per UFC:

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For Anderson Silva, Another Bizarre Night in the Cage and Another Loss

On a surface level, Anderson Silva looks the same as he always has. Long and sleek, slick and rangy, the Brazilian still casts a commanding presence in the UFC Octagon. But after Saturday night's UFC Fight Night 84 performance against Michael Bisping, it's clear that the cracks we have seen in his recent career have not been and will never be healed. His chin is compromised, his reflexes have slowed a tick, his activity has lessened. 

In a sport of milliseconds, that can make all the difference. 

Today's version of Silva is good but far from the all-time great who authored one of the UFC's legendary win streaks. And in today's UFC, being good isn't good enough at the top level. It wasn't Saturday night, as he tasted defeat for the third time in his last three official bouts (a fourth was declared a no-contest).

That he lost to Bisping, a longtime Top 10 middleweight, can be understood, believed and accepted, if only it were by a routine method. But things rarely go routinely when Silva is involved, so of course some bizarre moments accompanied the action and clouded the aftermath.

This time, there were multiple things to point to: first, a knockout that wasn't and then a complete lack of urgency to turn up the volume even as it became clear that the fight was a close one that could tilt either way. And...

"Sometimes it’s like in Brazil, total corruption," he said in Portuguese following the fight in the cage, according to MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz.

Oh, yes, when it comes to Silva events, the bizarre is a regular attendee.

Corruption? No way. According to MMADecisions.com, 16 of 22 polled media sources scored the bout for Bisping with the same 48-47 score that all three judges reached.

It was simply a close fight, and if he looks within, Silva will find his own causes for losing, even if for at least 45 seconds during the bout, it seemed he had snapped his streak.

Instead of talk of triumph, there will be speculation of retirement.

The strange and pivotal moment for Silva came as the third round neared an end. During an exchange, Bisping lost his mouthpiece and pointed it out to the ref. As he did, Silva attacked him. Then, as Bisping broke free from Silva's muay thai clinch, the Brazilian backed off. Bisping looked for his mouthpiece again, pointing it out to referee Herb Dean, and Silva jumped in with a ferocious flying knee that caught Bisping's jaw flush and floored him. 

It was a clean strike, if not totally sportsmanlike, and his most vintage moment of the fight, showcasing the killer instinct that drove his lengthy middleweight title reign. In the moment, Silva thought he had just scored a knockout, so as Bisping sat slumped against the cage, Silva promptly walked across the Octagon and jumped atop it to straddle the cage and bask in the adulation of the 16,734 fans at London's sold-out O2 Arena crowd.

However, unbeknownst to him, the bell had rung to end the round just a tick after the knee had landed, and Dean declined to stop the fight, ruling Bisping was fit to continue. As the arena doctors and cornermen poured into the cage as they customarily do between rounds, confusion reigned. 

Silva's corner thought the fight was over and celebrated with him, while Bisping's corner worked to motivate him for a second opportunity.

As all this happened, a commission regulator pleaded with Silva to get off the cage, repeating several times, "the fight's not over." Finally, Silva got the message and had to collect himself with no corner instruction and a possible adrenaline dump.

Round 4 started with Bisping still looking a bit wobbly, but Silva never moved in to take advantage of the situation, failing to throw a strike until 30 seconds or so had passed. A low blow a few seconds later gave Bisping additional time to recover, and with that, Silva's best opportunity of the night slipped away.

It was all part of an uneven performance that saw Bisping significantly outwork him. Silva has never been a volume fighter, but his indifference in countering many of Bisping's flurries left little doubt who was winning exchanges much of the time. 

Over the course of the fight, Bisping threw 320 strikes to Silva's 135, according to FightMetric statistics. Overall, Bisping landed 112 strikes to Silva's 75. 

Beyond the numbers, Bisping proved he was there to stay early as he won Round 1 on activity and then punctuated it late by wobbling Silva with a hook. 

Then in the second, Bisping took it one step further, dropping Silva with a left hand and swarming with ground strikes. 

While Rounds 3-5 were much more competitive and Silva always seemed on the brink of closing the show, he mostly chose to fight in bursts. It was impossible to watch those last 15 minutes without feeling like Bisping was in constant danger, but it was also impossible to watch and wonder why Silva wasn't putting together more combinations and increasing the pressure.

Occasionally, we see older fighters struggle to pull the trigger. Perhaps that was happening in certain moments; perhaps Silva was content with sniping rather than spraying fire. Only he knows the true reason.

For Bisping, we know exactly what it was. It was a performance that summed up his career, a fighter who wanted to win so desperately that he could not possibly lose a battle of wills. 

"It's about how much you want it," he said in the post-fight press conference. "I wanted this fight; this was everything to me. It was that that got me through those [dangerous] moments."

It was everything to Bisping, who has scratched and clawed to reach the middleweight Top 10 and stay there for nearly a decade. It was everything to him because he has won so many times without ever measuring himself against the very best the sport has to offer.

After so many years of having to face that kind of intensity, maybe Silva can no longer rise to meet it in the same way. He wouldn't be the first champion to suffer that fate, and at his age (he will turn 41 in April), we should come to realize that this might sadly become the norm for him if he chooses to continue. We can laud him for what he's done and praise him for still trying, but we must ultimately accept that even legends don't leave the cage gracefully. 

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UFC Fight Night 84 Results: Winners, Scorecards from Silva vs. Bisping Card

Anderson Silva is the most perplexing athlete in mixed martial arts. On Saturday night in London, Michael Bisping defeated Silva via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) in an odd, controversial and entertaining bout. The UFC congratulated both men after the fight:

There seems to be a disconnect in Silva's mind when it comes to determining what wins a fight in the UFC these days. His post-fight comments, per Fox Sports' Ariel Helwani, supported that notion:

Silva is seemingly more interested in posing and making cinematic movements with his hands than landing strikes.

Through the first two rounds, Bisping was busier, and he even dropped Silva in the second round. There wasn't a ton of action—aside from Silva's posturing—but Bisping had clearly won both frames.

In the third, Silva came alive. He got more serious and took control of the center of the Octagon. Controversy struck at the close of the round.

Bisping lost his mouthpiece about 15 seconds before the end of the frame. He pointed to it, but referee Herb Dean didn't stop the action.

Just before the horn, Silva landed a flying knee that dropped Bisping. Dean waved off the round, but he should've called it a knockout. Silva thought he'd won the fight.

He went into full celebration mode. It took at least three minutes for someone in his corner to convey to him that the fight wasn't over.

Instead of coming out hard in the fourth round, Silva was tentative, and he gave away another round. To make things worse, he didn't capitalize after he hurt Bisping with a front kick. Zombie Prophet shared a replay:

Bisping stumbled back, but instead of pouncing on his injured opponent, Silva just looked at him.

Silva won the round, but he didn't understand where he was in the fight. As the decision was read, he looked shocked that he didn't win.

During the post-fight interview, Bisping had nothing but respect for Silva, per Helwani and the UFC:

Bisping deserved to win, but he wasn't the better fighter. Silva gave him the fight, and Dean made a key error. Where does Silva go from here? At 40 years old, the chances that he changes his style seem slim. 

However, he probably has no chance to beat the best in the world with his style-over-substance approach. Bisping is a worker who will give most fighters a tough night, but he has also proved time and again that he's not an elite 185-pounder.

This one left a weird taste in your mouth after it ended, but it was fun to watch.

 

Mousasi Dominates Leites

The co-main event was a one-sided beatdown. Thales Leites had no answer for Gegard Mousasi's kickboxing. Mousasi dominated Leites in every round. Leites, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, attempted to take Mousasi down on several occasions. Every attempt was stuffed.

Leites lost his confidence and had no choice but to take the beating. In the final round, he did land a hard shot, but it didn't put Mousasi in any danger. 

The fight should have been a shutout on all three cards. Somehow, one judge found a round to give to Leites. Zombie Prophet shared an image of a beaten and battered Leites:

Mousasi might have had some room to push the action against Leites, but he was content to pick the Brazilian apart from a distance. Referencing his technical-knockout loss to Uriah Hall in September, Mousasi explained his approach Saturday night:

A win is better than a thrilling defeat. Here's a look at all of the results:

 

Main Card Results

  • Michael Bisping def. Anderson Silva via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47).
  • Gegard Mousasi def. Thales Leites via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
  • Tom Breese def. Keita Nakamura via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
  • Brad Pickett def. Francisco Rivera via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).


Undercard Results

  • Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
  • Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26).
  • Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey via knockout (head kick) at 4:45 of Round 1.
  • Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
  • Krzysztof Jotko def. Brad Scott via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
  • Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
  • Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho via technical decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29).
  • Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:24 of Round 1.
  • David Teymur def. Martin Svensson via technical knockout (punches) at 1:26 of Round 2.

 

The Finishes

Teymur Takes Down Svensson

The uppercut was the punch of the day in the early bouts. David Teymur used the punch to put Martin Svensson in peril in the second round. 

After a high-octane first round, Svensson looked to be gassed coming into the second. The nasty uppercut caught Svensson coming in and put him down. Teymur wasted no time pounding his opponent out to get the stoppage.

The UFC shared the finish:

It was the UFC debut for both men and Teymur's fourth consecutive win. 

 

Packalen Chokes Out Gouti

An uppercut was the shot that led to Teemu Packalen's victory over Thibault Gouti. Early in the first round, Packalen dropped Gouti in a brief exchange and almost immediately took his opponent's back to lock in the rear-naked choke.

It took just 24 seconds, and the bout was over. Here's the finish:

It was Gouti's UFC debut, and he was previously undefeated. Packalen shook off a loss in his UFC debut to score the impressive victory. 

 

Ashkam Depletes Dempsey with Head Kick

The American Chris Dempsey was performing well early in the first round, but Scott Ashkam turned the tables in a major way. A straight left hand started the issues for Dempsey, and a follow-up head kick turned out the lights.

Referee Yves Lavigne didn't waste time stopping the bout. The UFC's official Twitter account applauded the Brit's brutal finish:

We should've predicted a win for Ashkam; it fit his pattern. He has alternated wins and losses in his four UFC bouts. Krzysztof Jotko defeated him via split decision in his last fight.

This was Dempsey's second straight loss. Both have come by technical knockout.


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UFC Fight Night 84 Video Highlights: Two Uppercuts and a Head Kick

UFC Fight Night 84 started off hot and heavy, died down in the middle and then closed with the super-intense main event that saw Michael Bisping edge out Anderson Silva on the scorecards.

While the main event may go down as a fight of the year candidate, there were only three finishes on the card, each of which saw relatively young talents score what could be momentum-generating wins. You can check out all three of them down below.

 

David Teymur def. Martin Svensson

 

An ugly curtain-jerker came to a very sudden ending, as David Teymur floored Martin Svensson. Svensson was in desperation mode after a rough first round and started shooting in for takedowns from an absurd distance. Teymur did not let that go on for long, though, and nailed him with a picture-perfect uppercut, finishing him on the ground with hammerfists shortly thereafter.

 

Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti

 

Teemu Packalen had a forgettable UFC debut back in July, but his sophomore effort at Fight Night 84 was a marked improvement. Shortly after the horn, Packalen rocked Thibault Gouti with a right hand, folding the Frenchman in half. Packalen followed him onto the ground, and after landing some hammerfists, sunk in a deep rear-naked choke that forced the tap in under 30 seconds.

 

Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey

 

Entering this fight, Scott Askham and Chris Dempsey both desperately needed a win. With both men heading into Fight Night 84 with a 1-2 UFC record, a loss would either push them to the brink of getting cut, or would result in a pink slip outright. Exiting the fight, Askham's job is safe, at least for a while. Dempsey's? Not so much.

After a few stop-and-go minutes of action, Askham began finding the timing and range to his striking game. In the waning seconds of the first round, he clipped Dempsey with a left hand that put him on rubbery legs and out of the fight with a lethal head kick not long after.

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UFC Fight Night 84 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from London

It wasn't quite Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock 3. But the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 in London was the UFC's version of a legend vs. legend bout.

Anderson Silva is arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever, given his 33-6-1 record and longtime stranglehold on the middleweight strap. But he's now 40 years old, coming off a yearlong steroid suspension and fighting for only the second time since 2013.

Michael Bisping's place is a little more open to interpretation. He has never fought for a UFC championship, but he is probably still the most famous English fighter in MMA history. You don't stay around in the UFC for a full decade, as Bisping (27-7) has, unless you're doing something right. A lot of things right, in fact. Nevertheless, he's now 36 years old and probably grooming himself more for a full-time broadcast gig (he already pitches in at Fox Sports 1) than an imminent title shot.

Bisping has been calling out Silva for years now, and in front of his home crowd Saturday, he got him. What would he do with the opportunity? And what about Silva? Were his decline and demise greatly exaggerated, or was he what we thought he was? Would Bisping's steady stream of steroids trash light a fire under the former champ? 

This was just one of 13 bouts on the card, which featured eight English fighters. If you missed the action and want to catch up—it aired Saturday afternoon in the U.S. and was broadcast entirely on the UFC's Fight Pass subscription streaming service—you are in the right place.

As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 84.

Full card results appear on the final slide.

Begin Slideshow

UFC Fight Night 84: Gegard Mousasi Outclasses Thales Leites in London

Top-10-ranked middleweights clashed in the UFC Fight Night 84 co-main event. No. 9-ranked Gegard Mousasi (38-6-2) returned from a loss to tangle with No. 10-ranked Thales Leites (25-6).

Leites pressured with a takedown attempt right away, but Mousasi stayed on his feet. The takedown defense would force Leites to abandon the attempt and get back to a striking distance. Mousasi’s lightning-quick jabs kept Leites out of range, and Mousasi also landed strong inside leg kicks.

The Brazilian was forced to shoot for another takedown, but Mousasi defended again. Leites took a lot of punishment from the leg kicks, making it an easy first round for Mousasi.

Stuck at the end of Mousasi’s jab was a big obstacle for Leites. Mousasi was accurate, and Leites had no answer. Leites, a former title challenger, was forced to throw wild punches in the hopes of connecting. Mousasi was simply too skilled. However, though skilled, Bleacher Report's Scott Harris and Fantasy SportsNet's Matt Brown pointed out Mousasi has shortcomings: 

At the end of the second, it was visibly clear who was in firm control of the bout.

Leites pulled guard to open the third. It was the last of his options. Mousasi would not play in his guard for long before standing up and going right back to picking Leites apart with his jab. The difference in their striking made the fight a one-sided technical beatdown.

The victory is exactly what Mousasi needed to rebound from his loss to Uriah Hall.

The loss was extremely damaging to Leites. The 34-year-old will likely never be a legitimate threat to the the division's top end again, but he could assume the role of a UFC top-10 gatekeeper. He is skilled enough to do that, and it makes matchmaking a bit more simple for the UFC.

Chris Camozzi would be a good fight for Leites to take next. Camozzi wrecked Joe Riggs at UFC Fight Night 83 in early February. It would test the American to see if he is ready to be a top-15-level middleweight. It’s a fine addition to a Fight Night undercard. SB Nation/MMAFighting.com's E. Casey Leydon suggests a Mousasi/Hall rematch:

With the division in flux, predicting what's next for Mousasi is extremely difficult at this juncture. He could be put against someone like Derek Brunson, have a rematch with Hall or end up fighting a title contender who can’t wait for his shot at gold. If given the book, I would put Mousasi in the cage against the highest- ranked fighter not going for the belt.

In his post-fight interview, Mousasi said he is a top-five fighter.

This fight helped to clear the air at 185 pounds. Mousasi is moving upward, and Leites will now be relegated to keeping the gate for the middleweight contenders.

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