Questionable Decision Overshadows Title Bout, Dominating Performances
A questionable split decision victory which was awarded to The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Michael Bisping over Matt Hamill has caused a uproar among fans and overshadowed a 5-round title fight and other dominating performances on an action-packed card.
In the main event of the evening Dan Henderson appeared hesitant and ineffective as Quinton Jackson controlled the former-PRIDE champion on the ground while interspersing striking throughout to rack up points. Henderson did not go down without a fight but was overwhelmed by Jackson’s strong ground game and came up short with scores of 48-47, 49-46, and 49-46 all being awarded to the UFC Champion.
Henderson opened up strong in round one taking Jackson down and using short knees to the body but round two showed a distinct change in pace. After a takedown from Henderson Jackson got the upper hand controlling the top position for the majority of the round using body strikes to rack up points. Round three was the most even (and could have been scored in favor of either fighter) with both fighters trading strikes on their feet and on the ground. The fourth round opened with a hard combination from Rampage that allowed him to take the fight to the ground and keep it there of a majority of the round to secure another round. In the final round desperation started to show with Henderson needing a knockout to secure the win. His opportunity never came as Jackson neutralized his opponents attempts to secure a unanimous decision win becoming the Unified Light Heavweight Champion of the world.
In the most controversial (and talked about) decision in recent history Michael Bisping was awarded split decision win over Matt Hamill. The win even came as a surprise to Bisping’s home crowd in London who booed the winner despite cheering him on throughout the bout. Hamill appeared a different fighter in London still displaying his impressive takedowns but displaying a much improved standup game than many expected. Despite wrestling through his previous fights Hamill changed the pace in his bout taking Bisping down on nearly every kick attempt he made but allowed him to return to his feet showing confidence in his newfound striking.
Bisping fought the match much like a boxing match move quickly around the octagon using short, crisp strikes throughout while avoiding much of what Hamill was throwing at him. The turning point on the scorecards likely came on the ground where Hamill allowed his opponent to return to his feet several times and the decision cost him. The judges awarded Bisping a split decision win with scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 27-30. The very questionable decision prompted fan upheavel and questions over just how legitimate Michael Bisping actually is.
In other main card action Cheick Kongo dominated Mirko “Cro Cop” for the majority for their fight and showed much-improved ground game to secure the win. Despite several errant knees to Mirko’s groin Kongo frustrated Cro Cop throughout avoiding most of his offense and controlling the pace of the fight. The judges handed down a trio of 29-28 scores for Kongo handing Cro Cop back-to-back losses and likely removing him from UFC heavyweight title contention.
In a fight that resulted in the submission of the night Marcus Davis recovered from a kick to the head and near stoppage to lock in an armbar late in the first round. Paul Taylor caught “The Irish Hand Grenade” early in the round with a right high kick that sent him to the ground. After several hammer fists and a near-stoppage Davis recovered to take the dominant position eventually catching Taylor in the fight-ending armbar to secure another UFC victory.
Opening the main card Houston Alexander showed his power with another knockout win in 1:01 over Alessio Sakara. “The Assassin” opened the round by rocking Sakara with a pair of knees. Although he briefly recovered Alexander quickly caught up with him and landed another devastating knee that sent him to the ground where Alexander pounced and unleashed strikes until the fight was stopped.
In undercard action England’s Terry Etim was defeated in front of his home crowd losing a unanimous decision to Gleison Tibau. Tomasz Drwal put on an impressive first round in his UFC debut but Thiago Silva returned with a strong second round winning by technical knockout at 4:23 of the second. Dennis Siver controlled his fight from the beginning taking Naoyuki Kotani to the ground and using effective strikes to open a gash on his forehead. Siver caught Kotani early in the second with a left hook and followed it up with a right that ended the fight at 2:04. Jess Liaudin dominated from the start in his fight against Anthony Torres landing several near knockouts before he sent Torres to the ground and finished him off with more strikes.
More than 20,000 fans packed the O2 arena for the event which sold more tickets in England than any fight card in over 10 years.
Up next for the UFC is two more events before the end of September. The UFC will return to Spike on September 19th for UFC Fight Night 11 and will then head to Anaheim for UFC 76 on September 22nd.
I have never questioned the integrity of the UFC until now. I have seen some bouts in the past that had questionable decisions, but last night was very disheartening for me. I have watched the Bisbing/Hamill fight several times now and still can’t figure out where Bisbing scored his points. Someone please explain to me how this is possible?
The only way Bisbing won this fight is if they gave points for retreating. Dana White has to make the decision soon as to whether this is the road he wants to go down. What is more important? selling the sport, or integrity?
Overall i feel that this fight was purely designed to sell the sport in England, not to entertain (or determine who the best mixed martial arts athletes are). The Fans in London said it best….Boooooooooooooo!!!!! Keep your head up Hamill, and continue to develope your stand up(you did out box him). Bisbing, check your ego at the door and show at least some respect after the fight is over. “Go back to wrestling” ? gimme a break….
Kris, I couldn’t agree more. That fight has the nasty stench of boxing.
One of UFCs strengths is judging. Rip-offs are much more rare. What makes this fight so egregious is that it was an open secret that UFC was protecting the “British Champion.” Judging like this erased all doubt.
Heck, even the Brits watching live now know the fix is in.
Hamill dominated and won that fight and Bisping knows it. Piss poor performance by 2 of the judges.
UFC’s website says nothing about a controversial decision, what’s really goin on? They make it sound like Bisping actually won the fight!
Houston Alexander vs. Michael Bisping what do you think? I’m tired of the UFC protecting Bispings MMA record, I wanna see him get KO’d
the UFC won’t put stuff that makes them look bad on their own site. That site is to pimp the UFC, not give a fair reading of what really happened. Dana White is going to tell us all about what a freakin warrior Decision **** is too.
You and me and every other fan, including all of the people in Decision ****’s corner, saw someone get mauled by a bear in the bout. Everyone but two of the idiot judges. UFC has lost a gigantic ton of credibility in my eyes. I can disagree with close decisions and not feel to unhappy with the result…Guida-Griffin, Griffin-Ortiz (I thought that one was 30-26 Ortiz on all three cards)…but this was ridiculously awful. Fighters say you can’t give it to the judges, you never know what’ll happen, and this shows it in a stark, stark light.
Have Bisping fight over in N. America against Hamill (again) or top 10 fighter. Maybe loser of Chuck/Keith?
I think the UFC conveniently forgotten how to score using their own octagon RULES!
- octagon aggression & control (Matt all 3 rounds)
- effective striking (Who’s face, in the end provided evidence of ‘effective’?)
Damn if I will purchase ufc 76, I beleive UFC will make their Forrest crybaby griffen win as to further rid the Pride brand. I rather not pay for a UFC “influenced� business decision outcome. Hell its not even a title fight card for the same price. I wonder if they will preserve their golden boy and screw over Fitch along the way! UFC is starting to make money their main motive over fair decisions and that totally SUCKS!!!!!! BOOOOO UFC, using Crocop to develop new STARS for future financal gain knowing he will retire soon. Boycotting (money) will be the only why to get the message to the UFC! We are not looking for UFC to turn into WWE, TNA, etc.
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I have recently become a UFC fan (1-2 years) I do not claim to have a deep technical understanding of scoring, but I do undertand how UFC describes. I am glad to see that I am not the only one confused as to how Bisping won that fight. Anyone can review tape and draw their own conclusion…
I THINK THE UFC SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES FOR ALLOWING THE DECISION TO GO TO BISPING!!! WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!! NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE DECISION SOUND “LEGITIMATE” BY SAYING IT WAS MATT’S FAULT HE LOST THE FIGHT BECAUSE HE LET BISPING UP OFF THE MATT TOO MANY TIMES!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? HOPEFULLY THIS DECISION WILL BE OVER-TURNED!!! UFC HAS LOST ALOT OF INTEGRITY AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED OVER THIS FIGHT!!!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOO BISPING!!!!!!!!
The whole MMA/UFC fan world must believe that the decision was fixed! Even the “Bisbing” fans should admit that Hamill won the fight. I’m a Bisbing fan here in the US but the better man should have won that fight and it was not Bisbing. I’m sure even Dana White and Bisbing’s corner were surprised when they heard the decision. Unless Dana fixed it himself.
That decision maybe one of the “nails” on UFC’s coffin. A sad moment for UFC supporters…..
JPEREZ CUDOS!!!!! This Is getting to be like the WWE!!!!!!!!!! I AM the UFC’s BIGGEST fan but I was SICKENED by that ****ty scorecard?? Bisping won MAYBE one round…..DANA White Needs to address this or he will lose Many supporters! Im glad I didnt pay for that fight card or Id be asking for a refund!!!!!!!!! I payed 40 bucks to see Rampage knock out The “Iceman” and I wasnt upset because that was real,Last nights Spectical in LIMEYTOWN Needs to be REVERSED!!!!!!!!!!!!
After many years as a devoted UFC fan and having purchased most of the PPV’s, I am done. I will no longer subsidize the UFC’s greed by using a very talented fighter like Matt Hammel as a sacrificial lamb. He deserves better than that. Bisbing can stay in England, I will never watch him again. Come on Tito, stand up for Matt, as it is apparent no other official member of the UFC will!!!!! Hey Dana, easy come, easy go. You lost a huge fan base!
Hey Dana and Joe, you got yourself into a f*@king submission, tap out b****!!!
Kris who I think runs this web site (could be wrong on that) claims to question the integrity of the UFC after this Michael Bisping split decision win over Matt Hamill. I also feel that Hamill should have won at least 2 rounds. I also question the integrity of UFC Daily who scorded the fight 2 rounds to 1 for Bisping in the UFC 75 Results write up.
What a joke!!! I cant believe that Matt lost this fight. It even seemed as if Bisping was suprised that he won after the beating he took. The fix was in, just read the articles on UFC.COM. No mention of a contraversy. Atleast with the WWE you get honesty about the fact that the matches are fixed.
Bisping almost lost to Elvis. Enough said!
www=ufc=circus; the pimps and fags are on the saddle. I hate to see that everything becomes “plastique”. Back in 90’s i’ve seen real men like GRACIE, SEVERN, TAKTAROV,SHAMROCK and now i’m looking at fags like “Bispig”, pushed in the front row by pimps like “Dana = Don King”.
I realy belived in ufc; now I don’t give a ****.
ufc is on a fast track to being just a bull**** show… protecting big names, hyping hometown heroes, lets just see some fights and have some fair decisions. unf*ckingbelievable.
jason` says:
ufc is on a fast track to being just a bull**** show… protecting big names, hyping hometown heroes, lets just see some fights and have some fair decisions. unf*ckingbelievable.
^ WELL SAID.
This will go down as one of the biggest mistakes the UFC has ever made.
Some questions for Dana White……….
1. do you think your fan base are a bunch of idiots?
2. how much money did it take for you to sell out?
3. how did you come up with the number?
4. do you know how the point system works in the UFC?
5. Is there random drug testing/eye exams for the judges?
6. Do you know what the term “propaganda” means?
Although i cant stand the guy I hope Bill O’reilly gets wind of this issue and calls the UFC on this. Cause i’m surely running out of sports to follow due to this kind of crap.
but i do thank them for not moderating out my comments like some other sites.
This is not my website BTW
My apologies to Kris I was under the impression that he was involved with the website.
Although I don’t agree with the decision I think that it is important the note that the judges are not selected by the UFC they are selected be the location of the fight cards athletic commission.
Wrong. UK shows, from what I understand, are judged by people hired and arranged by the UFC.
James of Salem, PERFECT reference to boxing!
Its funny that Dana was the main person bashing the boxing community for it being corrupt and all that ****. Trying to make mma(the ufc.) grow and say that this sport would never be like boxing is, having rigged fights, biased calls..etc…and just like that a couple of months later they f*** up fight like that?
UFC is all (sh****)business folks.
There is no commission in the UK which means the UFC is in charge of drug testing and finding judges. There judges are licensed in the US as the UFC doesn’t want that hanging over their heads but I do believe that they picked them.
Right, it’s a different Kris.
By the way if anyone is offended by the language of any comments let me know. There have been so many angry ones in the last day it’s hard to keep track of them all so if there’s anything out of line send me an email using the comment form and I’ll get it fixed.
Yeah…this is a setback for the UFC. We’ll see how they rebound and if Dana can come out and say he made a mistake. Im still going to watch the UFC…but I would like an explanation.
It isn’t enough for me to give up my favorite sport, but it better change soon. This,I still believe after watching the fight again, was an injust call. I just don’t see how Bisbing won. He may have won punches landed, I’ll give him that. But effectivness of punching,cage control, and takedowns definately goto Hammil. I don’t even care for Hammil(though I did pick him to win) I think he was screwed. At least one judge had it right with 30-27 Hammil. At least give Hammil a rematch Dana, common man, this is a serious deal if you haven’t noticed how emotional your fan base is about this sport.