The pure grappling match between Chael "The American Gangster" Sonnen and Michael "The Count" Bisping ended in a draw Sunday night. To put it plainly, it was a glorified training session between friends, and it was boring.
The bout was part of the inaugural combat sports pay-per-view event from URShow.tv. The network is a new entity that plans to bring exclusive streamed entertainment in the world of sports, music and more. Sonnen vs. Bisping was part of a quadruple main event.
The evening also featured a mixed martial arts bout between Shannon Ritch and Mavrick Harvey, a pro-wrestling match featuring Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle and a boxing match headlined by former pound-for-pound champion Roy Jones Jr.
The legend's opponent was a fan named Vyron Phillips. Yes, you read that correctly. Phillips entered and won a contest that awarded him the opportunity to step in the ring with Jones.
Prior to the Sonnen-Bisping roll, Ritch defeated Harvey via submission in the first round. The other two scheduled fights were set to take place later in the evening.
The Sonnen vs. Bisping match was set up to fail from the beginning. By rule, there was no points system. The only way to win was by submission. That concept only works in professional wrestling.
Before the bout, most would've given Sonnen an edge, but the American Gangster couldn't get an advantage. There was a limited amount of takedowns in the bout, and neither man was able to put his opponent in danger of submitting. Bisping managed to push Sonnen into the corner on a few occasions, but he wasn't able to do much in those situations.
Bisping wore a black tank top and matching pressure shorts. His attire didn't scream "serious and competitive bout," and the action matched his getup.
Sonnen did at least look as if he were going to compete in some form of physical combat. He was shirtless with taped angles, but even his normal villainous persona was lost in this sea of nothingness.
The event's announcers were legendary professional wrestling voice Jim Ross, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Bellator MMA's commentator, Sean Wheelock. The banter from this unlikely trio was more interesting than the action in the ring.
It was fun listening to Rampage rant about how much he hates for opponents to mount and hold him down in a match. It was especially amusing to hear during a pure grappling bout.
When the fight was over, per the URShow.tv broadcast, Bisping apologized to the crowd for the lack of action.
He attempted to explain the differences between pure grappling and mixed martial arts, but that was a task he shouldn't have had to take on. As you can see from this video in Zombie Prophet's tweet, Sonnen made no apologies for the thing he does best: grappling.
He did, however, reaffirm he's done with mixed martial arts:
Grappling is a true art form, and those who practice and train in the discipline exclusively may have had a greater appreciation for the scrap. Unfortunately, that demographic probably doesn't make up a large percentage of the folks who were watching the PPV.
The UR Fights venture isn't a bad one, but it would probably be best if the Sonnen vs. Bisping grappling match was the last of its kind on the network.
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