Mike Bisping: The Hating Ends Now

Mike "The Count" Bisping, for reasons I don't understand, seems to be hated on way too much. Even fans in England don't seem to like him, except for the ones that go to UFC events. I can't tell you how many times I've heard that Leben was going to KO him in the first round. Not to toot my own horn but toot freaking toot, ladies and gentleman. I was not one of those people.

What is there to hate about this guy? Is it because he's a Brit and he just continuously beats our guys? Is it because he is a bit cocky even though about half of the fighters in the UFC are? No, I'm pretty sure I know the reason, and it has nothing to do with him personally.

I think the hate volcano stayed pretty dormant up until UFC 75 when that volcano erupted like Mt. Vesuvius. To refresh your memory, at UFC 75, Mike Bisping fought American wrestler Matt Hamill. This fight was set in London, England and is one of the most controversial fights in UFC history.

In a fight that I think everybody scored for Matt Hammill, including myself, the judges gave it Bisping. It's a pretty stupid reason to hate this guy, considering he had nothing to do with it.

A lot of people thought the judging was rigged being that the fight was in Bisping's backyard, but give the UFC some credit, if they were going to rig something, why do it like this? Both American judges scored it 29-28 for Bisping, and the one English judge gave it to the American 30-27. It was some of the weirdest scoring ever, but it wasn't Bisping's fault.

Now we jump ahead to UFC 89. Bisping is now in the middleweight division and is facing his stiffest competition in the division. Leben is heavily favored for a KO by experts and even fighters. Why? Because apparently Bisping has a glass chin and Leben's is made of granite.

What in the world makes you think Bisping has a glass chin? He has never been finished in a fight, let alone KO'd. Just because Leben has some serious striking that doesn't guarantee him a KO.

Exhibit A, Chuck Liddell. One of the best strikers in UFC history lost to Keith Jardine, a guy that seems to be prone to KO's when fighting really good strikers.

Leben, yes, has an awesome chin and can knock out most of the middleweights in the world, but that doesn't mean he's going to KO Bisping, let alone in the first round.

UFC 89 saw a very exciting fight between the two and proved my point exactly. Leben was chopped up from the get go and just couldn't seem to break through that glass. Let me just give all the people that thought Leben was going to walk threw Bisping a little info. Granite may be really hard to break through, but it can be chipped away at with well-placed shots. That's exactly what happened here.

What's next for "The Count"? He says he wants to take it slow and didn't really show too much want for a title match in the near future. It may not be the answer Dana White and all of the Bisping fans wanted to hear, but it was the right answer. Don't rush yourself into something you're not ready for—practice makes perfect.

You have to work hard to handle spiders, especially ones as dangerous as the one called Silva. If you're not ready to handle one as venomous as that, you may very well be going to the hospital.