NO. JUST NO.
Michael Bisping is a fairy tale champion. After crushing Rockhold in the first round via left hook Larry the fans have been debating his first middleweight title defense. Sadly, it’s not the ideal candidate, and to top it off it’s an undeserving one.
Jacare? Nope. Rockhold? Nope. Weidman? Nope.
It’s freaking Dan Henderson by a LANDSLIDE.
I tallied up the average percentages taken from a mess of other media outlets, forums, and every single one of the threads/polls I read screamed Dan Henderson for the first guy to get a crack at Michael. That shouldn’t happen.
I would love for Bisping to redeem himself and get revenge for his highlight reel knockout of the century loss to Hendo. After his corner screamed for him not to circle in the direction that would line him up for the H-bomb right hand – he did the opposite and paid for it. Winning the title helped him gain some redemption, but it will forever be etched in our mind as one of the most spectacular zombie knockouts ever. Still, if Bisping never faced TRT or PED users he hasn’t lost but a few fights if you subtract guys like Henderson, Belfort, and Sonnen. Regardless, here is why Hendo is the worst choice for Michael.
Dan doesn’t deserve it. He has beaten Hector Lombard recently to make his record in the last five fights a dismal 2-3. Jacare is the next logical choice if it isn’t Chris Weidman or a rematch with Luke Rockhold. Henderson is only in there for rematch purposes and the fans desire to see Michael avenge the knockout loss, which is understandable to an extent. It is unfair to the middleweight division to give him a rematch for that reason alone.
Chuck Liddell once tried to avenge a loss to Rampage Jackson and he was knocked out for his efforts. That KO sent Liddell in to one of the worst fall from grace runs in history that saw the once invincible lightweight champion go 1-4 in his last five losing by KO in the last three of those. Bisping does not need to get knocked out cold by Henderson again because let’s face it, Hendo can KO anybody if he lands his right hand. Michael deserves to fight someone he is not driven to face with thoughts of revenge, governed by emotion and not game plan.
Bisping needs to give middleweights like Jacare who have scraped and clawed their way towards the top tiers of 185 a shot. He needs to reinvigorate the division that has seen champions sit on the sideline and hold the title longer than they should without a defense. I’m looking at you Weidman. Michael is probably going to be a fighting champion and we love those as fans so thank you Rousey and Liddell for being role models.
Finally, we deserve a better fight than an aging, but admittedly able, Dan Henderson. The UFC needs to make Weidman vs. Rockhold happen, Bisping vs. Jacare happen, and then the winners of those square off. If not, the UFC makes a statement again that it’s all about the dollars and not sense.