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By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor HENDERSON SHOWS HIS REAL SELF?
First, the headline of the UFC 100 show other than the winners and losers should not be Brock Lesnar's antics - as headline-worthy as they were - but rather Dan Henderson's practically criminal second punch on Bisping. Sure, according to the rules, Henderson was within them. Commentator Joe Rogan called it "ruthless."
He didn't do anything to get himself disqualified, as rules are now written. His second punch, when even he admitted he knew Bisping wasn't getting up, was unforgivable. I totally get that in the heat of the moment you can lose your composure. I was hoping Henderson would have said afterward that he regretted the punch as soon as he threw it, but he instinctively fights until the ref steps in.
Henderson said: "Normally I'm not that way in fights. I know if a guy is out I tend to stop. I knew I hit him out. I think that one was just to shut him up a little bit."
I admire his honesty, but it just confirms the worst - which is he threw a punch so dangerous and uncalled for that he's lucky Bisping got up. Henderson seems so mild-mannered, but if that just means that kind of tension and anger is building up inside and expresses itself with that kind of outburst, I'd rather he let out some steam emotionally before getting into the cage.
Henderson has a rep for being a cool customer who wouldn't let a younger punk like Michael Bisping get under his skin. He's the mature, older veteran who just brushes it off, right? It even seemed like he had to manufacture the anti-Bisping sentiment in his pre-fight promos. But it turns out, he was holding it all inside and it led to him acting out in a terribly unprofessional manner. I wish Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg had spoken out against that unsportsmanlike behavior, but at least Rogan asked him up front about it afterward so we could get on record that Hendo knew what he was doing.
HENDERSON'S FUTURE
Henderson has definitely rebuilt himself as money-opponent for Anderson Silva. His strong performance against Rich Franklin and this memorable KO win against a fighter never knocked out before, plus the exposure on The Ultimate Fighter, all leads to a Silva-Henderson rematch being more intriguing than I thought possible.
BISPING'S LEARNING EXPERIENCE
I'm interested in how Bisping responds to this loss. Henderson was generous in saying that Bisping has a bright future and will learn from this loss, as he did early in his career from setbacks. Bisping did seem a little overconfident, and the fact that his corner and the announcers recognized what he didn't, which is he was falling into his comfort zone by moving left rather than altering his approach because it was the worst approach against Henderson shows that he may have had a sense of being invulnerable.
This loss humanizes Bisping because he not only lost to an older fighter who some thought might have peaked a few years ago, but lost decisively in part due to a poor execution of a gameplan.
It was a setback for UK fans, but part of what makes MMA a fascinating sport to follow is the human-interest aspect of seeing fighters bounce back from losses.
I'm curious whether Bisping speaks out against that second unnecessary unsportsmanlike punch. It's one thing to run your mouth, it's another to punch a knocked-out-cold fighter because his words irritated you.
***
Wade Keller is the Supervising Editor and Founder of MMATorch.com. He has covered MMA for the Torch since before UFC existed, including Japanese shoot-fight cards such as Pancrase in the early 1990s, plus all of the early UFC PPV events (some of those reports can be found in the MMATorch Flashbacks category). He covered the first UFC event in Las Vegas in person in 2001 and Brock Lesnar's recent return to his hometown Minneapolis when he defeated "Crazyhorse" Heath Herring. He has interviewed Dana White, Mike Goldberg, the original UFC match-maker Art Davie, and others in MMA over the years. He has also been interviewed as an MMA reporter by major newspapers dating back to the mid-1990s. He has trained in karate, judo, and jiu jitsu, with over 12 years of formal martial arts training and tournament fighting. He is a double black stripe belt in tae kwon do.
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