UFC 127 Fight Card: Jorge Rivera, Michael Bisping and the Psychology of Warfare

Jorge Rivera has launched a YouTube video campaign the likes of which MMA has never seen before—all in order to get under Michael Bisping’s skin in hopes that the brash Brit will make a tactical error during their upcoming fight.

This is Psychological Warfare 101—use your enemy’s weakness as your strength. And though not every MMA fan likes it, we’re all interested in the outcome, which accomplishes Rivera’s mission.

Jorge Rivera is 38 years old, staring retirement in the face.

Only the legendary Randy Couture has had a successful MMA career at the highest echelons of the sport into his 40s, and all of us are inevitably on the long slide to incontinence and irrelevance.

So Rivera is using his last fit years to make a name for himself. He wants to look out for his future and the future of his family by making money in the sport now.

He targeted a bigger name with a hot temper and baited him into taking a fight that he shouldn’t have. Rivera made an in-jest video and Bisping put his mouth on the hook. That was a strategic error that Bisping’s future opponents might take note of.

MMA is not boxing, and, for the most part, MMA fans do not like the braggadocio and machismo of boxing’s well-known trash-talkers.

But MMA fans also know that a bad-blood fight is infinitely more interesting than an uninspired one. They spend a lot of money to watch these pay-per-views, and is there anything wrong with some extra snuff to make them tune in?

We know these guys can fight, some better than others, but what’s wrong with a little bit of showmanship from at least one of the fighters to make things more interesting? Especially if it helps tell (read: sell) the story.

So Rivera used the incredible power of YouTube to sell a product and make people want to watch. That brings in more pay-per-views, which makes his employer happy; it improves everyone’s bottom line.

For his part, Bisping has held back from true retaliation, but the British middleweight is known for not being able to control his emotions, and we all know he’s seething inside at the ridicule—unless, of course, he was in on the act from the beginning, in which case kudos on the masterful performance.

During every pre-fight interview Bisping is asked about the videos—not about his own skill and career path, not about his desire to bring a UFC belt back to England, but about YouTube.

That in itself has to be aggravating, and his only real comeback is “I do my talking in the cage.”

That’s what every boring fighter says, Mike.

In reality, the pressure is not on Rivera but on Bisping.

Rivera says Bisping has never knocked anyone out and that he uses his cardio and striking to point his way to a decision. This is an undisputed fact, and unless Bisping does something spectacular, Rivera will be correct in his accusations.

Bisping counters by saying he wins fights, and, in the end, that’s all that matters.

He says Rivera’s a relic who’s not worthy of this fight, that afterward he’ll be back to the undercard—and that very well may pan out.

He says he’s going to make a mess of Rivera; he says he’s going to show the world his KO power.

So now, Bisping has talked his way into a corner. Because anything less than a stellar knockout of Rivera is a loss to all tuning in.

Whether you laughed at the YouTube videos or cringed, Rivera has accomplished his mission.

He’s rattled his opponent’s cage and has gotten people to take interest because he knows that it’s better to go out there and fight like hell than to run around the cage like Kalib Starnes.

Whether you love Jorge Rivera or want to see Bisping knock his block off, Rivera has successfully sold a fight, and more of us are buying because of it.

Ask yourself this: Have you ever been so jacked up to watch a Michael Bisping fight?

Hopefully, they don't ruin it by hugging after the fight is over.

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