Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 84 main event between Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping could have easily been over at the end of the third round. Silva legitimately knocked Bisping down and seemingly out with a flying knee as Bisping was asking referee Herb Dean for his mouthpiece, and Silva walked off believing he’d won.
With the confusion that came with Dean saying the fight wasn’t over yet, Bisping got more recovery time than he should have, especially with how badly hurt he was in that moment. Silva’s somewhat poor performance in the fourth round, and his inability to finish things off in the fifth, handed Bisping the decision from there, and Silva’s manager Ed Soares on Sunday took to Instagram to say a rematch and potential trilogy should be in order.
Penick’s Analysis: One of the biggest things working against this idea is that Bisping’s unlikely to be ready to turn around for a fight in May. He got hurt badly by Silva in this fight despite eking out the win, and he’s going to need time to recover before he fights again. A rematch would be fitting, though the UFC has plenty of other options for both of them moving forward and they may not be inclined to even try putting it together. Silva’s likely to fight on that May 14 card in Brazil, I just don’t necessarily see the Bisping rematch being the top option for them.
[Photo (c) Jayne Kamin-Oncea via USA Today Sports]
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Why would Bisping agree to this? He got the win, his goal has been met. If Silva wanted to beat Bisping, maybe he wouldn’t have fucked around so badly at the end of the third and into the fourth. And maybe he would have actually fought in the first 14:58 of the fight, too.