Dan Henderson “Pissed” About Bisping Loss, Could be “Talked Into a Rubber Match.”
Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC 204, England’s Michael Bisping sought to defend the UFC middleweight title against Dan Henderson. The bout also marked the Brit’s opportunity to avenge the ugliest loss of his career: a blistering KO doled out by Henderson in the year 2009.
In the end, Bisping would leave Manchester with both the belt and his vengeance, earning a unanimous decision over his 46-year-old foe after five fun rounds of action. The fight was so competitive, however, that many fans didn’t believe Bisping deserved either, and that instead, the decision should have gone to Henderson.
Henderson, unsurprisingly, is of the same mindset. The 46-year-old, who retired post-fight, poured his heart out in a post that he wrote for Champions.co.
“It’s been a pretty mellow week since UFC 204, but I still haven’t reconciled myself with the scoring the judges put forth for my fight with Michael Bisping,” Henderson explained in his post. “I finally got around to watching the video of it last night, and I’ll admit, I’m pretty pissed about it. I was going to say frustrated, but that doesn’t quite cover the range of feelings I’ve got right now.”
“He just wasn’t doing anything to me. He was throwing punches that weren’t really landing or were just barely touching me,” Henderson continued. “Most of the punches I was throwing were meant to hurt him, and obviously, they did. There was a big difference in our significant strikes. I think the definition of that needs to be spelled out better, because he didn’t throw that many significant strikes.”
“He didn’t hurt me once… he really didn’t do anything other than kick me in the balls, and then tried to capitalize on it when the ref didn’t stop the fight for a recovery period.”
Despite his feeling that Bisping didn’t accomplish much throughout the fight, Henderson explained that he is willing to give the Brit rounds three and four. This, of course, would still mean Henderson won the fight three rounds to two .
“I absolutely felt that I won rounds one and two, and the fifth,” he said. “I landed almost or as much as he did and I took him down in the fifth. Going into that last round, I felt that worst case, it would be a draw. I didn’t want that. I wanted to win, so I went out there and poured it on, and I’m sure I did. That’s how I felt that night, and even more so after watching the video.”
“I don’t know what type of fight anyone’s ever witnessed or been in, whether it be in a school yard, a professional arena or in a bar, where if one opponent looks like Mike did, if he looks like a guy that got his ass kicked…he probably did get his ass kicked. He’d probably be called by everyone the loser of the fight.“
In his piece for Champions.co, Henderson admitted that he’s so miffed that he’d even consider emerging from retirement for one more donnybrook with the Brit.
“If this fight had happened last year, and I hadn’t decided to make it my retirement fight, the fans would have demanded a trilogy,” he explained. “Hell, I’m pretty pissed off right now, and for the right money, I’m pretty sure I could be talked into the rubber match, not that I think he would accept another invitation to get beat up again.”
Though Henderson went on to claim that he remains satisfied with what he accomplished over the course of his legendary career, he once again drove his point home in his article’s final paragraph:
“The theme of this event was ‘vengeance,’ but Michael Bisping didn’t get that. If anything, he got the exact opposite. He got wrecked, and dropped twice by the same punch he so desperately wanted to eradicate. I said it once, and I’ll say it again—you can’t change history.”
Do you think Henderson defeated Bisping at UFC 204? Would you be interested in seeing the two legends go at it one more time? Sound off, PENN nation!
Topics:
Dan Henderson Michael Bisping