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21/07/09 - Bisping on Hendo late punch: 'I would have done the same to Dan'
Michael Bisping says suffering the first knockout loss of his career against Dan Henderson at UFC 100 has not shattered his confidence or hopes of earning a UFC title.
“The UFC doesn’t put emphasis on unbeaten records like they do in boxing, and fighters like Forrest Griffin, my mate Rampage, Randy Couture, GSP and many others have come back from bad losses to win world titles and I aim to do just that myself,” he says.
“Obviously, I never planned on getting beat. I felt so confident going into the fight, I was sure I was going to win. I’ve got no excuses, it was an poor performance on the night. I can’t explain why, I can’t pretend I had a bad camp, that I struggled at the weight or any of those types of excuses because the honest truth is I had my best camp ever.”
Bisping was criticised for ignoring the advice of his corner team during the fight, specifically about not moving to his left and into the path of Henderson’s legendary right hand.
“I just couldn’t get into any rhythm on the night at all. I was doing loads wrong, couldn’t stick to the gameplan. I was circling into his right hand, which we worked hard on not doing, but for some reason I was doing it,” he explains. “I felt I was starting to get it together when he landed the punch which knocked me out.”
Henderson received some criticism himself after the fight, for landing a diving punch on Bisping‘s jaw when, as he admitted afterwards, he knew the Brit was already out. But Bisping say he has no complaints.
“I know there’s been some controversy, but I don’t have any bad feelings about him landing that second shot when I was on the ground. That MMA, you keep hitting until the ref pulls you off. I would have done the same to Dan,” he laughs. “And, anyway, I didn’t feel a thing so it made no difference to me.”
“Fair play to him, he caught me and knocked me out. Everyone saw it. It is a setback, I am pissed off, I was close to a title shot but I will be back. The worst has [now] happened to me. It doesn’t get any worse than my last fight, so what’s to worry about next time?
“If anything, this will make me more aggressive in my next fight - I feel really sorry for whomever I fight next. I am a little embarrassed, I’m pissed off, and I just want to fight as soon as can be.”
Yesterday, Bisping told his local newspaper - the Manchester Evening News - that he would like a rematch with Henderson as soon as possible.
“I’d love to rematch with him right away, and as crazy as some people would say I am, I’d be just as confident as I was before the first fight,” he confirms.
“But Dan has earned another crack at the UFC middleweight title, he’s had three goods wins and if you check back to what I was saying at the time, I thought he was winning the last fight with Silva and would like to see that fight again.
“Good luck to him. But I will chase a rematch with him, believe me.”
John Joe O’Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
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