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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Jorge Rivera's camp is going to get their wish, and Michael Bisping will receive disciplinary punishment for spitting at members of Rivera's corner following his second round TKO win over Rivera at UFC 127 in Australia.
That comes from UFC President Dana White, who confirmed in a report from Mike Chiappetta at MMAFighting.com that Bisping will receive some sort of punishment for the incident, though he's not yet sure if that will come in the form of a fine and/or suspension.
Bisping didn't take kindly to Rivera's attempts to hype their fight last weekend with a series of videos online that poked fun at him and his English heritage. His anger about the videos seethed into the fight, and after defeating Rivera in the second round, he walked over to where Rivera's corner was and spit directly at them.
The Brit claimed he spat in front of the cornerman, though Rivera's camp claimed that boxing coach Matt Phinney was hit by it. Either way, the UFC will take action against Bisping in some capacity.
Penick's Analysis: I really don't feel sorry for either side in this situation, but spitting on anyone like Bisping did probably shouldn't be tolerated by the UFC, so a fine of some sort isn't at all a ridiculous notion. But a suspension would be ridiculous, and the UFC wouldn't keep him out of action intentionally when they can sell his next fight with people wanting to see him get beat because of his actions. But setting a precedent that Bisping's actions aren't acceptable is the right way to go, and then they can hopefully avoid similar situations in the future. Again, however, neither side is completely innocent, but Bisping did take his reaction a bit too far on Saturday night.
[Michael Bisping art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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