UFC Fight Night 84 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from London
It wasn't quite Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock 3. But the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 in London was the UFC's version of a legend vs. legend bout.
Anderson Silva is arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever, given his 33-6-1 record and longtime stranglehold on the middleweight strap. But he's now 40 years old, coming off a yearlong steroid suspension and fighting for only the second time since 2013.
Michael Bisping's place is a little more open to interpretation. He has never fought for a UFC championship, but he is probably still the most famous English fighter in MMA history. You don't stay around in the UFC for a full decade, as Bisping (27-7) has, unless you're doing something right. A lot of things right, in fact. Nevertheless, he's now 36 years old and probably grooming himself more for a full-time broadcast gig (he already pitches in at Fox Sports 1) than an imminent title shot.
Bisping has been calling out Silva for years now, and in front of his home crowd Saturday, he got him. What would he do with the opportunity? And what about Silva? Were his decline and demise greatly exaggerated, or was he what we thought he was? Would Bisping's steady stream of steroids trash light a fire under the former champ?
This was just one of 13 bouts on the card, which featured eight English fighters. If you missed the action and want to catch up—it aired Saturday afternoon in the U.S. and was broadcast entirely on the UFC's Fight Pass subscription streaming service—you are in the right place.
As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 84.
Full card results appear on the final slide.
Winner: Michael Bisping
1 of 7
Knockdowns, knockouts, fouls, eye pokes. Where was the partridge and/or pear tree?
In a way, this fight was everything that hardcore fans imagined it to be. A fast-paced fight, heavy on kickboxing, with occasional flashes of brilliance from both men.
It all changed in literally the final second of the third round.
Silva landed a jumping knee that appeared to knock Bisping out or at least come close, right as the horn sounded. Silva raced to the top of the fence, confident he had just won a knockout.
But not so, said referee Herb Dean. They fought on, with a bloody and wobbly Bisping going mainly off what appeared to be instinct. You might say that added a new layer of drama to the proceedings.
To his credit, Bisping was fearless afterward, wading into range over and over as the fight came down the stretch. But that odd turn at the end of the third dictated the tenor of the fight from there on out. Silva took control and poured on punishment. Once the final horn sounded, Bisping's face was a bloody mess.
But Bisping's output over the course of the fight swung the bout in his favor by unanimous decision.
"I wanted this fight my whole life," an emotional Bisping told broadcaster Dan Hardy and the London fans in the cage after this fight. "You guys gave me the power."
Good on Bisping for knocking a line item off his bucket list in front of a crowd of home-nation faithful.
Loser: Anderson Silva
2 of 7
Was this a strange fight or what?
Early on, both men took turns cracking each other, especially in the first. But to their credit, they shook it off like fighters who were much younger.
In the second, Silva loosened up and began to work his signature head movement, standing against the fence and taunting Bisping by attempting to avoid his jabs with quick jerks of the neck.
Only now, at age 40, Silva couldn't avoid every strike. Bisping didn't feel compelled to play the game, either, backing up and refusing to be baited into a Silva counter. Late in that round, The Spider went back to the well again, only this time Bisping stayed in the pocket and dropped him with a left hook. He nearly got the finish, but the horn came and saved Silva.
That was a recurring theme. Silva simply didn't have the quickness or precision to bail himself out of bad spots. But he stayed within himself and ultimately opened up down the stretch, turning Bisping into a bloody pulp with knees and kicks that, through squinted eyes, conjured the Anderson of old.
Ultimately, though, Silva didn't do enough. It's hard to think of a scenario where he'll be able to do so at this level again.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi
3 of 7
Gegard Mousasi seemed intent on clearing his name, and he did it.
After employing a new training approach that left him fresher for fights, Mousasi was probably beating Uriah Hall last September when a flash flying knee ended the bout in Hall's favor.
Mousasi took out his frustrations on Thales Leites on Saturday.
The usually stoic Mousasi positively snarled in the cage, snapping a jab and crisp punch combinations seemingly at will while easily brushing off the takedown attempts from the jiu-jitsu ace. Mousasi took a unanimous-decision victory in a fight that wasn't especially competitive.
It's hard to believe given that he is now 46 fights into his career, but Mousasi is still only 30 years old. If he continues to find this level of motivation and consistency, he still has plenty of time to put together a serious run in the UFC.
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Winners: British Fighters
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It wasn't an unmitigated success for fighters from the U.K. on this card, but they did come out ahead.
Bisping, Arnold Allen, Scott Askham, Davey Grant, Brad Pickett and Tom Breese all got a hand raised. Here's the full rundown:
- Norman Parke (L)
- Bradley Scott (L)
- Arnold Allen (W)
- Scott Askham (W)
- Davey Grant (W)
- Mike Wilkinson (L)
- Brad Pickett (W)
- Tom Breese (W)
- Michael Bisping (W)
Loser: Makwan Amirkhani
5 of 7
Makwan Amirkhani used superior grappling, sharp ground-and-pound and a deep gas tank to control Mike Wilkinson for an easy unanimous-decision victory.
After the fight, Amirkhani was engaging per usual, saying, "We put on a good show, that's for sure...Because in the end, we were there for those people watching...When the referee came between us in the end, I knew that we had accomplished what we came to do," according to Chamatkar Sandhu of MMA Junkie.
A Finnish fighter of Kurdish background, the 27-year-old Amirkhani is now 13-2 and 3-0 in the UFC with two finishes.
So why is he loser, then?
Because he was once again on the undercard of a relatively obscure UFC event. He's three-for-three in that regard. Why is that? He's telegenic, intelligent and a doggone good fighter. What does this guy have to do to get a promotional push?
Loser: Jarjis Danho's Groin
6 of 7
The punishment fit the crime for this one.
To the surprise of zero people, bearish heavyweights Daniel Omielanczuk and Jarjis Danho were losing steam in the final round of their fight. Especially Danho, who was making his UFC debut.
Ninety seconds into the round, a groin shot put an already flagging Danho on the ground. He was unable to continue. As Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie explained, "In the case an accidental foul renders a fighter unable to continue in a three-round fight, judges are required to score the action that’s already taken place. When the bout was halted due to Omielanczuk’s low blow, he appeared well on his way to winning the round."
Omielanczuk rightly received the technical decision win, but it was a clumsy end to a rather clumsy fight, even by heavyweight standards.
UFC Fight Night 84 Full Card Results
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Main Card
- Michael Bisping def. Anderson Silva by unanimous decision
- Gegard Mousasi def. Thales Leites by unanimous decision
- Tom Breese def. Keita Nakamura by unanimous decision
- Brad Pickett def. Francisco Rivera by split decision
Preliminary Card
- Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson by unanimous decision
- Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera by unanimous decision
- Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey by KO, 4:45, Rd. 1
- Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza by unanimous decision
- Krzysztof Jotko def. Brad Scott by unanimous decision
- Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke by unanimous decision
- Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho by technical decision
- Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Goulti by submission (rear-naked choke), 0:24, Rd. 1
- David Teymur def. Martin Svensson by TKO, 1:26, Rd. 2
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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