The trash talk that took place prior to this fight certainly wasn’t just to hype of the fight as both fighters talked more once they got inside the cage at UFC 127. In fact, they talked while they were fighting at times. The first round was fairly even with Jorge Rivera landing the harder shots. Michael Bisping did take Rivera down, and then Rivera seemed made that he did so as he said something to Bisping when he got back to his feet. Bisping landed a few strikes of his own, but Rivera’s right hand found the mark a couple of times.
The turning point in the fight came near the end of the first round when Bisping hit Rivera with a solid knee while Rivera had both of his knees on the ground, clearly an illegal strike. A point was deducted from Bisping by the referee. Rivera stayed down for quite a while, but showed heart in continuing the fight.
In the second round, Rivera landed a solid right hand that appeared to rock Bisping a bit but Bisping recovered. However, it was evident that Rivera was gassing and Bisping turned up the heat as Rivera just covered up against the cage before going to his knees. The referee came in to save Rivera at that point, which was 1:54 of round 2.
There was more jawing between the two fighters!
However, both fighters did hug and shake hands before leaving the cage and Bisping did admit that he took the trash talk from Rivera personal.
i saw a gif somewhere that suggested the reason Rivera was mad was more due to the idea that he felt Bisping had made a go for his beanbag! lol.
that fight was whack and the smack insane.
surely we get Bisping v Sonnen now?!
That was clearly an intentional strike by Bisping. Bisping is a pro-fighter, he knows the rules. Does he fight in any other organization so frequently that he confuses the rules of the UFC, I doubt it. Bisping obviously lost control of his anger. He let the trash talk get in his mind and he got mad. I did not catch the go at the family stones, I would have to watch it again. That knee shot definitely turned the tide of the fight. I would at least fine Bisping for un-sportsman like conduct and issue the rematch ASAP.
I was also disappointed in the judging of the first televised pre-liminaries. these judges obviously have know idea what fight they were watching. That was one of the most hideous descisons I haver heard, next to Garcia over Phan. What is going on?
Bisping already got punished. He lost a point. If Rivera was hurt, he should not have fought on.
Yeah I’m with Richard on this one, if you ain’t fit to fight don’t fight.
I didn’t see anything that led me to believe that Rivera would reverse a loss.
It’s not the fighters place to say he can fight on. It is the ref, his corner, doctors, etc. If the doctors and ref thought that he was fit to fight on, then that is the correct decision. No matter if I disagree with it or not (which I do disagree, I thought they should have stopped it).
It’s his health…by god it’s his place.
First and foremost.
Bravado has to go out the window if you want a career/life after fighting or you most likely going to be taking un-necessary damage that you can’t intelligently defend…
Everybody is a third party.
Rivera could have stayed down and picked up a win. Kudos to him for staying in the fight. He is the only one who knows how badly hurt he was. However, he did land his best punch of the fight and drop Bisping after the knee.
Disagree there. The best shot he landed was before that knee. He landed a clean shot after that, but the only shot that was landed in the fight that gave Bisping the “oh shit” face was before the knee landed.
It’s the fighters place after the referee and doctors. That’s why the rules are there. To leave it up to the fighters first and foremost would be detrimental to the sport because fighters would be seriously injured more often than they are now. An example of this is Foreman-Cotto in boxing. The referee let the fighter go on when the corner had already thrown in the towel. All Foreman did was get bludgeoned for another round before the referee finally stopped it.
Sometimes the fighters are their own worst enemy.
@ edub. You are absolutely right. Fighters should be saved from themselves. However, in this situation, the doctor and referee cleared him and he chose to continue.
Exactly.