Michael Bisping scores unanimous decision over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 120
Michael "The Count' Bisping claimed a unanimous decision victory over Yoshihiro 'Sexyama' Akiyama on Saturday, October 16 in London, England. The fight was the co-main event at the Ultimate
Fighting Championship 120 held inside the O2 arena.
The victory marked the sixth time that Bisping, from Manchester, England, has competed for the UFC in his homeland, and Bisping’s record improved to a perfect 6-0 with this latest win.
Bisping’s intent in this fight was to use it as a step toward an eventual fight for the UFC middleweight championship, currently held by Anderson Silva. Prior to the fight, a confident
Bisping said, “I think when I win this fight on Saturday night, I need one more good win against a solid contender to earn the right to fight for the title.”
Silva has a title defence lined up against Vitor Belfort on February 5, 2011. The top two contenders, Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami, are slated to fight on November 13 of this year to
determine who will fight the winner of the Silva vs. Belfort bout. With his victory over Akiyama, Bisping will most likely face Wanderlei Silva, Demian Maia or Kendall Grove.
Bisping was greeted with a huge round of applause when he entered the Octagon on Saturday night to face Akiyama. Akiyama wasted no time engaging Bisping as he landed a powerful punch
that clearly hurt Bisping. As the first round progressed, Bisping was able to recover from that blow and eventually became the aggressor in the round.
The second and third rounds were almost identical, as Akiyama appeared content to eat punches from Bisping in the hopes of landing one huge knockout punch. Akiyama stood directly in front
of Bisping for most of these rounds and allowed Bisping to dictate the pace and structure of the fight.
Bisping took advantage of his opponent’s lack of aggression and scored points by staying active and throwing strikes, but never really hurting Akiyama.
In the end, all three judges scored the fight 30-27 in favour of Bisping who, despite winning, showed that he still has some work to do in order to be considered an above average mixed
martial arts fighter.
Bisping’s main deficits in this fight included stiffness in his striking defence and often circling toward the left hand, the power hand of Akiyama. An elite MMA fighter, such as Silva,
would surely see these weaknesses and take advantage of them.
Bisping improved his MMA record to 20-3 with the victory while Akiyama fell to 13-3. The fighters each took home a $60,000 bonus for their efforts on Saturday night when they were awarded
'Fight of the Night' honours.
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