UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping thinks he might have called one of the best fights in MMA history this past weekend at UFC on ESPN 42.
The main event featured a Fight of the Night and potential Fight of the Year candidate between welterweight standouts Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland, with the former taking home a well-earned TKO (corner stoppage) victory between rounds four and five.
Bisping, who called the action ringside with co-hosts Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier, was glad to witness what he felt was one of the best fights he’s ever seen, crediting ‘Wonderboy’ and ‘Trailblazer’ for putting on one of the best shows of the year if not all-time.
“Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson vs. Kevin Holland might have been the best fight that we’ve ever seen inside the UFC octagon,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel (h/t Drake Riggs of MMA Fighting) “I know, that’s big talk. You’re crazy, Bisping. We’ve had a lot of good fights and maybe it’s recency bias, but in Orlando, Fla., Saturday night in front of a sold-out house, the crowd was epic. That fight was ridiculous, okay? Absolutely ridiculous.
“The techniques that we saw from Stephen Thompson, the showmanship and the gameness and toughness that we saw from Kevin Holland, and the excitement back-and-forth. I mean, come on. It doesn’t really get much better than that.”
He continued: “Both guys kind of agreed, it was kind of an unwritten rule, we shook hands, they said we’re not going to take each other down, and that was awesome. For these two, coming into this one, agreeing that they were going to fight, my god. Absolutely sensational stuff and they stayed true to that. ‘Wonderboy’ showed all of his skills. The kicks, the spinning hook kicks, the striking, the punching charges, were just unbelievable. But Kevin Holland landed a lot of huge shots as well.”
Thompson called out Conor McGregor after the fight, wanting to welcome the Irishman back to the Octagon for his comeback fight. Wonderboy is currently #6 in the UFC welterweight rankings while McGregor is unranked at welterweight but #14 at lightweight.
I disagree, but he’s entitled to his opinion.
Still a fantastic fight
That was a classic fight. Props to Holland for going for it and doing his part to make this fight great.
I don’t like when people call him low IQ. He was rocking Wonderboy and had him on Queer Street a few times.
I don’t think Holland would have won the fight if he had tried to use MMA. He would have done damage when Wonderboy got tripped up, but I don’t think he could take Wonderboy down enough to win, the fight would have been boring and he still would have been finished.
It was a fantastic fight. It had me on the edge of my seat
Idk if Bisping is being sincere or not but it’s not even in my top 5 or 10 probably. I think he’s being a prisoner of the moment
Recency bias, caught it from Dana
It seems like Bisping is equating “Entertaining” to “Best” here. Awesome fight though
Dan Henderson v. Shogun Rua 1
That fight had everything. Two HUGE names. And crazy back and forth action. It’s a shame that fight wasn’t the first Fox card main event which instead of JDS v. Cain 1, which ended in about a minute or so
Rose v Esparza 2 IMO
was a killa scrap
Awesome fight, but it didn’t have the kind of finish needed to be called the greatest fight of all time. It sure was a good one though!
Damn,
I missed this one.
Just might try & track it down.
Holland has one hell of a chin.