UFC 89 “Bisping vs. Leben” Recap: Bisping, Jardine Score Decision Victories
Middleweight contender Michael Bisping extended his 185-pound win streak to three-straight on Saturday night, defeating challenger Chris Leben via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 89 “Bisping vs. Leben” in front of a sold out crowd at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.
Despite entering the bout in his best physical and mental shape of his career, Leben pressed forward but was unable to connect with his knockout power, while Bisping employed a perfect strategy to top Leben on the judge’s scorecards, avoiding Leben’s power while countering with precision strikes.
Leben opened the bout aggressively with leg kicks but Bisping took control midway through the close opening round, countering with punches and bloodying the nose of his opponent. In the second it was all Bisping, who dodged Leben’s attacks while carefully countering with punches. In the close final round (which MMAFrenzy.com scored in favor of Leben), a desperate Leben was again aggressive, chasing Bisping down with wild strikes, but was unable to score a knockout.
The judges rendered a unanimous decision victory in favor of Bisping with scores of 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of the English fighter.
With the win Bisping improved to 17-1 on his career, including a perfect 3-0 record at 185-pounds, and moved closer to a middleweight title shot, though when questioned on a potential title fight after the victory, Bisping said he feels he needs several more wins over quality opponents before he’d be prepared for the middleweight title holder.
Up next for Bisping is a stint as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 9 with a key middleweight matchup against Dan Henderson or Rich Franklin looming in 2009.
The obviously-improved Leben dropped to 18-5 in the loss, but was gracious in defeat, thanking the UK fans and Bisping for a fight he called the most-enjoyable of his career, despite being a losing effort.
In the co-main event of the evening, Keith Jardine defeated Brandon Vera via split decision after three close rounds. After a exchanging early, Jardine captured the first round with a takedown and ground and pound, escaping a near-submission by the Jiu Jitsu brown belt to punctuate the round with a late-flurry of strikes. Vera countered by winning the second with a knee-buckling kick and better striking, but Jardine rebounded to win the final frame on two of the judge’s scorecards to take the split decision with scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 28-29.
Despite losses in two of his last five fights, the win moves Jardine, now 14-4-1 on his career, back into the light heavyweight title picture with wins over current light heavyweight title-holder Forrest Griffin, former champion Chuck Liddell, and now the former heavyweight contender Vera in three of his last five.
Vera, suffering his third loss in his last four bouts inside the octagon, saw his record drop to 9-3 in the loss, including a 1-1 mark at 205-pounds.
In other main card action, Luiz Cane stopped Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou for the “Knockout of the Night” with strikes late in the second round, Chris Lytle and Paul Taylor went toe-to-toe in the “Fight of the Night” with Lytle walking away with a controversial unanimous decision win (29-28, 30-27, 29-28), and Marcus Davis submitted Paul Kelly via guillotine choke midway through the second round in the first televised bout of the evening.
The wins likely line up Davis and Lytle for an early-2009 meeting at UFC 93 in Ireland.
Lytle, Taylor, Cane, and Davis each took home an extra $40,000 bonus for their efforts.
On the preliminary card, Dan Hardy topped Akihiro Gono via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), Shane Carwin pounded out Neil Wain early in the first round, David Bielkheden defeated Jess Liaudin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27), Terry Etim topped Sam Stout via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27), Jim Miller earned “Submission of the Night” honors by choking out David Baron with a rear naked choke midway through the third round, and Per Eklund forced Samy Schiavo to submit to a rear naked choke early in the third round of the opening bout of the evening.
The UFC’s next event is just one week away as the promotion returns to the US and heads to Chicago, Illinois for UFC 90 “Silva vs. Cote”. The middleweight title will be on the line in the main event as UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva battles top contender Patrick Cote. Welterweights Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyuki Yoshida are set to clash in the evening’s co-main event.
As always, MMAFrenzy.com will have extensive live coverage of UFC 90 “Silva vs. Cote” on Saturday, October 25th.
UFC 89 “BISPING VS. LEBEN” OFFICIAL RESULTS
- Michael Bisping def. Chris Leben via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Keith Jardine def. Brandon Vera via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Luiz Cane def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:15
- Chris Lytle def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Marcus Davis def. Paul Kelly via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 2, 2:16
- Dan Hardy def. Akihiro Gono via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Shane Carwin def. Neil Wain via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 1:31
- David Bielkheden def. Jess Liaudin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Terry Etim def. Sam Stout via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Jim Miller def. David Baron via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 3:19
- Per Eklund def. Sammy Schiavo via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 1:47
I wonder…is Bisping still going to be over rated??? I love it.
You know what??? Bisping played Lebens stand up game and picked him apart. He had a game plan and stuck to it. Awesome.
Yes Bisping is still overrated…he all but admitted that he wasn’t ready for a title shot, he admited he wasn’t trying to win, he was trying to get a decision. Leben gave him free shots at the end to prove he lacked power and only won by running around the ring and getting a few more shots in due to his reach.
He is still overrated.
Oh and Brandon Vera won that fight against Jardine. I believe there may have been some foul play setup if a split decision was imminent. Just my opinion.
HA HA BOO YA ALL YOU GUYS HATING ON BISPING AND HE SHUT ALL YOU GUYS UP. I LOVE IT AND IM NOT FROM ENGLAND. YO DANNYBOY STOP MAKING MAKING EXCUSES… AND JARDINE WON THAT FIGHT… STOP ****ING ****ING..
Leben did get picked apart, but he never stopped moving forward, that does count toward agression but not enough to win the fight the way he was getting tagged. I liked his hands down “hit me” poses. It was as if he was saying “yea your hitting me but you cant hurt me”. Did I hear Biping at the post fight say somthing close to the effect that his game plan was to win a decision?
As I expected I learned a lot from the Bisping fight. He is a very good striker, Leben is much improved. I look forward to seeing both fight again. Bisping also showed that he is in fact not ready for Silva. I was disappointed in his inability to finish the fight, but not many people can finish Leben, particularly not with strikes. Agree with the decision.
The Vera fight was disappointing as well. I wanted Vera to win that fight, and he did not move in at all and try to take advantage at all when he buckled Jardine’s knee, biggest mistake of the whole fight for him. I don’t take much away from Vera for losing this fight though, Jardine got owned in his last fight so he was due to win again, Vera should ask for an immediate rematch so he can knock him out in less than a minute, like Alexander and Silva did to him, otherwise someone else will get that honor. Definitely don’t disagree with that decision though.
Sokoudjou needs to work on his conditioning, and maybe try using that 2nd degree black belt in Judo.
Cris Lytle did okay, but many other people at that weight class would pick him apart, way too sloppy.
Davis looked really good in this fight.
Ed,
he said “My game plan was to come in here and get a unanimous decision.”
Leben was the constant aggressor. Quite a few of his shots rocked Bisping and had him running. Plus he scored a takedown. None of Bisping shots really hurt Leben. It only looked bad. The area around the eyes bruise easier. Leben won I don’t care what anybody says. Hamill also beat Bisping in England. The judges were biased then and now. England sucks.
I never want to see another fight from England. The fans are disrespectful with there booing. I can’t wait for UK vs. USA Ultimate fighter. I predict a clean sweep. I really can’t describe how strongly I feel about how bad England sucks. A nation of effiminate snobs. I going for some tea and strumpets.
Brandon,
You’re dead wrong about Leben winning, I don’t even think it was close. Damage helps when its a close fight, but when one person (Bisping) is basically able to land strikes on the other person at will, and also avoid strikes from that person, they win. While I agree that some of the booing was uncalled for, and unnecessary we’ve seen the same thing from US fans at times. Don’t start the UK vs US crap. Also, in regards to the Hamill fight, yes Hamill won, but it was the two American judges that scored the fight in Bisping’s favor, and the Britt judge that gave it to Hamill. The judges in the Evans/Bisping fight got in a make up call though so its okay. The moral of both of those stories, don’t leave it to the judges.
One final thing, even Leben admitted he got beat.
Still a Leben fan after that fight, Bisping was trying to be a very poor Lyoto Machida act at least Lyoto can finish a fight. Bisping is still a punk for saying that he was trying to win a decision, people want to see finishes not decisions, hands down.
Luiz Cane looked like he could of beat either Jardine or Vera tonight
I thought Leben won that fight. Leben was the aggressor, he was chasing after Bisping the whole fight.
Leben got 2 take downs and rocked Bisping a few times. All Bisping did was jab and box.
Leben was classy after the fight and wasn’t a sore loser and I respect that.
Dang I was rooting for Leben, he is the man. I think he needs to drop down to Welterweight he is outsized as a middleweight. That was a great night of fights, but too many dang commercials!
I was very impressed with Leben. His attitude and sportsmanship were top-notch. He was aggressive, always moving forward, and even scored a nice takedown. Plus, he looked to be in the best shape of his life. There’s no doubt about it, Leben was the more entertaining fighter. I can’t wait to see him fight again.
Having said that, Bisping used his reach-advantage very well and definitely inflicted the more damage. I was impressed with his performance right up until he admitted that his game-plan was to win a decision — I mean really, that’s such a negative way of fighting. Nobody likes to see fights go to the judges. Anybody who fights for a decision is eventually going to come unstuck.
I still think that Bisping won the fight, although I don’t think Leben was ever in any danger of being finished. Actually, I kind of wish they’d bent the rules and made this a five-rounder.
-Matt
Bisping did what he needed to do to win. He avoided Leben’s hard hands and inflicted damage. It was a smart game plan. I’m not surprised that some people still wont give Bisping the props he deserves though.
Okay, I am a HUGE Leben fan and was rooting for him 100% in this fight. I really wanted him to win, but to be honest he didn’t. Bisping had much better footwork and movement and landed many more shots. While Leben’s punches were a lot more powerful, he didn’t land enough, or ‘the one’. Leben needs to stick to his new gameplan of boxing and not simply stand and trade. While it does work for him a great deal of the time, it doesn’t always. If he would just work on using his jab, doubling and trippling that up to set-up his massive left hand he would be a 127% better fighter. He showed marked improvement with his leg kicks, although past the first round he seemed to forget about them and be content with throwing hands.
Bisping won, people need to stop digging on the guy, he is a GREAT fighter, not ready for a title shot yet, even by his own admission, but certainly on his way. Showed that he really does have a great chin, just needs to work some on his power.
On the other hand the other fighter i was rooting for, Brandon Vera just flat out pissed me off. This guy has not had a decent fight in the UFC since he KO’d Mir back at UFC 65. He was pathetic last night to be honest. He simply did NOT throw anywhere’s near enough strikes. I don’t think i saw a single combination from him. All that talk about wanting to finish the fight was pure B.S. I am a fan, but he’s making it difficult with these four lack-luster performances. He doesn’t throw hands, he doesn’t throw kicks or knees, i don’t know how he expects to win these fights. Smiling at your opponent alone will NOT do it, that’s for sure, last night proved it.
Yes Bisping is still overated. I have never heard of a game plan to go to a decision in my life,wtf? Without the home town judges Bisping ain’t
sh!t. When is this guy going to fight outsude of Europe. The last time he did he got spanked by Rashad Evans. OVERATED.
paul taylor vs lytle was the only good fight. i am sick of vera and bisbing they both suck and he may of won last night but im not sure he even won a round against matt hammell.
timcat,
Actually the last time Bisping fought outside of Europe he beat Charles McCarthy. His game plan was to box with Leben and use his technical striking to counter Leben’s big sloppy punches. Everyone knows that Leben has a great chin so going for the one punch knockout would have been a bad idea. While I obviously wanted to see a KO, Bisping did the smart thing and won the fight because of it.
Now YZF..I wasn’t saying Leben won like others were. I clearly think Bisping won the fight. But the question I was answering was “Is he still overrated?” The answer to that question is YES.
Anyone who runs around the ring and then ADMITTING he was only trying for a decision gets a thumbs down in my book. England fans should be ashamed of him after admitting that. I have zero against England and love their country and their people. Michael Bisping just happens to be one I am not a fan of. His wussy attitude was apparent last night.
However, Leben did lose the fight. A 70″ reach at Middleweight does not help him…as someone else said, he needs to drop a weightclass.
However I still stand by my decision on Vera. Vera won that fight, period.
As for the other brit that fought…yikes he got owned by Marcus Davis and the brit’s fighting style was as ugly as McCain’s tongue.
Timcat, er canada is not in europe
Dannyboy your last comment explains a lot.
Assuming your comment wasn’t sarcasm Surfingk5, I appreciate it. I would never want to convey a hatred or even a dislike towards England. I have a few friends who live there and absolutely LOVE the country. In fact, if somehow G.W. Bush “rewrote” the rules and won a 3rd term as President, England would be the country I’d move to.
I understand that people want to see an action packed fight, I am the same. I wanted to see an explosive fight but come on and admit it. Was anyone expecting an all out brawl? I for one wasn’t.
There is nothing wrong with having a game plan to take you to a decision! Nothing at all. If you don’t think you have a chance at Knocking the the guy out, then what are you supposed to do? Let him beat you? NO! Get a clue people.
With a one dimensional fighter like Leben, you have to be smart, use your brain. You cant just go wading in because the fans want to see it. After all. The fans arnt the ones that will be with you at the hospital if you suffer an injury. The fans arnt the ones that will take a punch for you, your in the all on your own. YOU HAVE TO BE SMART. Its fighting.
Now why is everyone being so over protective of a fighter who is such a gimmick? I have a lot of respect for Leben, but having only “one string to your bow” makes it very tough for you to fight and more importantly, WIN!!!!
I knew we would hear all this crap about Bisping “running”. He did his Job in there. Now Kalib Starnes last fight in the UFC was a masterclass of running. What Bisping did last night was BOXED! He simply hit without being hit.
Have any of you ever been in a fight? I don’t mean a **** ass little fight behind Burger King or in the School Playground. I mean a real competition fight? I have been in loads and can tell you that “If you don’t fight smart, you will lose dumb”!
Now while I don’t agree with Bisping being over-rated, I would like to see him in a real test. Having watched many of his fights here in England I know that there is more to come. I DO NOT think… in fact I KNOW he is not ready of Anderson Silva anytime soon.
Lay off the guy, Let him grow as a fighter and then when he starts getting better opponents, then you can slag him down. But to run down a fighter who is not a main contender is just dumb on all your parts.
People always tell us fighters what to do and how to do it, but we are the ones that have to be in there, we have to feel the pain, feel the pressure and deal with the situations. Bisping wouldn’t tell you how to do your Job, so let him get on with his. He’ll work out any problems in his own way and time.
No way Brandon Vera win the fight **** that **** !
Jardine give all he had and Vera did nothing at all. The fight sucked in general but im happy with the win for Jardine.
Vera has a long road to come back in the top contender game.
I was pleased for Jardine too
I do agree that Bisping fought a smart fight, and that he won the fight fair and square. But fighting for a decision is a dangerous tactic — and it could easily backfire depending on the judges.
But I guess you have to give the guy credit for being honest and stating his game-plan. And I also respect him for admitting that he’s not quite ready for a title fight.
-Matt
I agree with pretty much everything Ryan said in that long one. I think to the normal person’s expectations of Bisping he it not over rated. The guys that say he could take out Silva if that was his next fight are over rating him.
In regard to having a game plan of going to a decision, while I would have liked to see Bisping go for a finish, Leben’s fight with Martin showed that to be a very dangerous thing to try for. The decision to go for a decision is a matter of respect for the finishing power of your opponent.