You can’t ask for more when you have two veterans in the Spider Anderson Silva and a hometown hero in Michael Bisping putting on a show for a 20,000 odd crowd that had its fair share of controversies and sneaky moments. At the end of a 5-round war, Michael Bisping showed resilience and legit toughness to outpoint the former Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in earning a well-deserved unanimous decision victory.
The bout started off slow and transcended into some infamous showboating courtesy of the Spider, who kept toying with Bisping, yet kept getting tagged on the way out of exchanges. All hell broke loose in the third round when Silva kicked the mouthpiece off Bisping's face and went on to connect with a flying knee right at the buzzer to floor a visibly upset Bisping.
The Spider’s wild celebrations began, but were cut short and he was told that the fight ain't over yet as Herb Dean kickstarted the fourth round soon after to weather the storm. At the end of the final buzzer and a 48-47 decision later, Bisping had his hands raised to a loud pop from the O2 arena capacity crowd much to the dismay of Silva.
While Silva too had his moments in the bout, connecting with a straight leg kick right at the end, Bisping’s volume and the fact that he had Silva reeling at the end of the first round with a wicked combination tipped the judges’s decision in favour of Bisping.
In the other Middleweight bout of the night, Dutch contender Gegard Mousasi put on a dominating performance against Thales Leites and in turn, labelling himself a top five contender after the victory. Makwan Amirkhani, whose promise has been the talk of the town, earned his third straight victory to continue a dominant run.
Here are the complete results from the card:
Main card
Michael Bisping def. Anderson Silva via unanimous decision
Gegard Mousasi def. Thales Leites via unanimous decision
Tom Breese def. Keita Nakamura via unanimous decision
Brad Pickett def. Francisco Rivera via split decision
Prelim Card
Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey via KO (head kick) at 4:45 of round 1
Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Krzysztof Jotko def. Bradley Scott via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho via majority decision (29-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear naked choke) at :24, Round 1
David Teymur def. Martin Svensson via TKO (punches) at 1:26, round 2
