July 11th couldn’t take any longer to arrive. But when it did, it came with thunder just like the Olympian’s flying forearm attack. As we watch from around the world the spectacle before us, we’re we watching our modern day warriors in combat or we’re we watching barbarians slugging it out?
The night did not disappoint with the main card opening with a controversial win for Yoshihiro Akiyama over Alan Belcher. Then came the fight that most of us have been waiting for since Jan 17 when we knew that Dan Henderson will be facing United Kingdom’s super star and middleweight prospect, Michael “The Count” Bisping.
The Brit showed plenty of brash and valor during the season but he did so at the expense of getting onto Henderson’s bad side. His antics were out of control at times, so it was no surprise that Henderson came with an over hand right to match Bisping’s over the top shenanigans.
The lad from Manchester throughout the first round peppered Hendo while he loaded that right hand of his. Yet, every time Henderson threw that murderous right hand of his that help him win over the Ax Murderer, Wanderlei Silva (KO by a left hook), it was a swing and a miss. During rounds, you can hear Bisping’s cornermen screaming at him to stop circling to his left, towards Henderson right hand. Hendo, knew it was only a matter of time before he landed what has been locked and loaded since April 1st.
At the start of the second round you saw much of the same as you did in the first. Bisping was jabbing and throwing light combinations at Henderson. Henderson looked like he was irritated by Bisping’s success but his determination did not waiver. And it paid off mid-way of the second round. While Bisping’s corner men were yelling at him to stop circling to the right as he began to do so again, it was too late, Hendo had thrown the shot that was heard around the arena. And boy, did it ever land. He knocked Bisping out cold, instantly, yet followed up with a flying forearm? Dude, seriously?
What made matters worst was that he admitted to throwing after he knew he had sent Bisping to la la land. He retracted his statement in the post conference that he was in the “heat of the moment, the ref had to stop me…it was just a reaction of mine to keep going until I was stopped”.
We all know Bisping had it coming to him and he probably deserved that last punch, but the man was out cold and when the sport is constantly being scrutinized and still illegal in some of the states in our own nation, we need to make sure we send the signal the sport is about competition and not about brutality.
There are other ways to laying the smackdown aside from throwing an extra punch, a la St. Pierre vs Serra 2. That fight was sweet revenge for “Rush” not just because he crushed Serra, but because he did so slowly, painfully, and embarrassed him by making Serra quit. It was a beating that Georges was not letting up and was not going to Serra the easy way out via submission or knockout after the weeks worth of words.
Luckily, Hendo was able to smooth things over and able to communicate that he is an intelligent fighter, who gets paid for what he does and knocking out one’s opponent is not always enough to stop the fight. The third man in the octagon is the ultimate judge as to when the fight is truly over. Good thing Mazagatti wasn’t reffing this one.
