View Full Version : UFC 89: Bisping vs Leben
Main Card
Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben - going with Bisping by decision here. Leben's head is too hard for the Count to knock him out but he'll pick him apart for three rounds
Light Heavyweight bout: Keith Jardine vs Brandon Vera - Vera looked awful at LHW last time but I'd put that down to cutting on a few weeks notice. He should win as long as he presses the action and gets in close to Jardine
Light Heavyweight bout: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs Luiz Cane - this is a great fight, I'm tipping Soko but I wouldn't be surprised if Cane takes this
Welterweight bout: Paul Kelly vs Marcus Davis - bit disappointed that these two fights are on the main card as Davis and Lytle are never going to be more than gatekeepers at WW
Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs Chris Lytle
Preliminary Card
Heavyweight bout: Shane Carwin vs Neil Wain - Carwin by ground and pound early in the fight
Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs Akihiro Gono - tough one to call, going with Hardy by decision
Lightweight bout: Jess Liaudin vs David Bielkheden
Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs Terry Etim
Lightweight bout: David Baron vs Jim Miller
Lightweight bout: Per Eklund vs Samy Schiavo
Main Event is delaying this by a day for Pavlik vs Hopkins so I'll be passing on ordering it, I was 50/50 anyway given the card. It's pretty lame that we still can't support multiple PPVs on one day though. Hopefully there's a torrent available on Sunday morning.
Forrest Gimp
14 Oct 2008, 19:55
http://pages.tvunetworks.com/downloads/player.html#
Download the player, search for spike TV, and you can watch it live. I'm trying to find out whether the program has a recorder or not. Picture/sound quality is def watchable, although a torrent will still be the optimum way to view it.
Does anyone know what time it starts, Oz time?
edit: There's also an MMA channel which looks really good...
RobbyRoy
15 Oct 2008, 01:17
Main Card
Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben - I think Bisping can knock him out
Light Heavyweight bout: Keith Jardine vs Brandon Vera - Vera won't win if he fights like he did against Andy, but I think he'll be more prepared this time round and will take this
Light Heavyweight bout: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs Luiz Cane - Toss up, but I'll say Cane by KO
Welterweight bout: Paul Kelly vs Marcus Davis - Should be a fairly entertaining fight, but I agree that it's not a main carder
Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs Chris Lytle - Bit too much for Taylor I think
Preliminary Card
Heavyweight bout: Shane Carwin vs Neil Wain - Carwin to probably run through Wain and continue the decent start to his career
Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs Akihiro Gono - Gono decision
Lightweight bout: Jess Liaudin vs David Bielkheden
Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs Terry Etim
Lightweight bout: David Baron vs Jim Miller
Lightweight bout: Per Eklund vs Samy Schiavo
Pretty weak card really, especially without Silva/Machida.
Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs Chris Leben - going with Bisping by TKO stoppage. Leben would not suprise me if he caught the count though , he is in tremendous shape. This fight could well be a cracker.
Light Heavyweight bout: Keith Jardine vs Brandon Vera - Jardine to rebound. This could be a snore fest if both fighters choose to be cautious. This is probably a 50/50 but I give the edge in heart to Keith. Probably a decision.
Light Heavyweight bout: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs Luiz Cane - Soko to rebound too. I have a soft spot for Soko.
Welterweight bout: Paul Kelly vs Marcus Davis - these guys both bang and I think this is a very interesting match up. Could well be decided on the ground. Kelly I think will have the home crowd (even those davis is "irish") and will earn a decision. And to be fair, the UK crowd like both these guys so it deserves to be on the main event.
Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs Chris Lytle - Lytle is a good bet.
Preliminary Card
Heavyweight bout: Shane Carwin vs Neil Wain - Carwin by GnP
Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs Akihiro Gono
Lightweight bout: Jess Liaudin vs David Bielkheden
Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs Terry Etim
Lightweight bout: David Baron vs Jim Miller
Lightweight bout: Per Eklund vs Samy Schiavo
BTW I'm really rooting for Leben. I think the guy has come a long way since the TUF days and looks to have turned his life around. The countdown show for UFC89 showed he is really on his way to being a top level MMA fighter.
Go Count Bisping! Beat on that Massive MASSIVE head!
Forrest Gimp
15 Oct 2008, 17:16
Leben is training harder than ever, he has lost all his fat and looks ripped. His chin, and his knockout power will see him through to a KO, IMO.
GeneralDisarray
16 Oct 2008, 00:02
I hope Bisping kills Leben. Not just defeats him but literally kills him so all his family and his 2 only friends have to go to his funeral next week. I really hate Chris Leben.
Forrest Gimp
16 Oct 2008, 00:54
^
Strangebrew?!?
I hope Bisping kills Leben. Not just defeats him but literally kills him so all his family and his 2 only friends have to go to his funeral next week. I really hate Chris Leben.
haha :) Did you watch the countdown show? Chris seems to have matured no end, actually won me as a fan as before the show I couldn't really have cared / was going for Bisping.
Actually overall I really don't care, I just hope it's a good fight ;)
GeneralDisarray
16 Oct 2008, 22:12
haha :) Did you watch the countdown show? Chris seems to have matured no end, actually won me as a fan as before the show I couldn't really have cared / was going for Bisping.
Actually overall I really don't care, I just hope it's a good fight ;)
Yeah and Leben still likes to tell everyone how great he thinks he is. Bisping on the other hand seems like a great bloke. He's very humble and his athleticism reminds me of Georges St Pierre. He doesn't have the natural ability of GSP but his work ethic and attitude is very similar. Bisping's conditioning looked very impressive in his last fight and he's only getting better.
Get on the Bisping bandwagon peoples! I find it amazing how when you go on sites like the sherdog forums there are so many mma fans who rate Leben as the better fighter. Americans are really one-eyed when it comes to this fight and once again, it's very similar to the way they viewed international Georges St Pierre until he won the title from Serra.
RobbyRoy
17 Oct 2008, 01:21
A lot of people don't like Bisping for the way he acted after his "win" against Hamill. Personally, I like the guy, I just think he gets over-excited sometimes.
Yeah I'm about the same. And Bisping is a LOT better fighter than Leben, but Leben is improving and is tough and has heart so the question will be is that enough. Leben needs to KO Bisping to win IMO.
GeneralDisarray
17 Oct 2008, 10:39
A lot of people don't like Bisping for the way he acted after his "win" against Hamill. Personally, I like the guy, I just think he gets over-excited sometimes.
But if Hamill can't hear what Bisping's saying then it doesn't count.
Sportman1987
18 Oct 2008, 00:37
Is Bisping Leben a joke?
I haven't watched MMA consistently for around a year and a half, but what I've seen of Leben was pretty ordinary. Somewhat flashy and loose stand up, seems to get caught a lot. Bisping on the other hand seemed a bit of a powerhouse.
Has Leben lifted his game?
I wont be ordering it, but I hope Bisping absolutely buries that flog Leben. Anderson Silva's 49 second demolition of Leben after he claimed he'd "send Silva back to Japan where the competition is easier" was one of the most awesome moments in MMA ever. We wont be seeing an onslaught like that here, but a methodical 3 round beating would be great.
All up it's a very disappointing card though. The UFC has access to so much talent, yet I can't even remember the last time they actually put on a great card from top to bottom.
terrible card
the main event has 2 fighters I couldnt care less about, Bisping is too smart for Leben and will prob get a decision
I hope Jardine smashes Vera
Forrest Gimp
18 Oct 2008, 13:38
I wont be ordering it, but I hope Bisping absolutely buries that flog Leben. Anderson Silva's 49 second demolition of Leben after he claimed he'd "send Silva back to Japan where the competition is easier" was one of the most awesome moments in MMA ever. We wont be seeing an onslaught like that here, but a methodical 3 round beating would be great.
All up it's a very disappointing card though. The UFC has access to so much talent, yet I can't even remember the last time they actually put on a great card from top to bottom.
92 should be that card
Just finished watching it. Bisping vs Leben went exactly as I expected. Disarray's correct too about the hatred for Bisping on the MMA sites. Wouldn't surprise me if some of them are trying to compare him to Kalib Starnes for not trying to stand and bang with somebody who has a crazy chin and bricks in his hands.
Vera didn't push the action despite Jardine's leg kicks being neutered after his knee almost buckled and it cost him the fight. He seems to be lacking confidence since Timmy leaned on him for three rounds last year. Then again, he was always going to be up against it once Jardine tweaked his nipples before the fight.
Cane is a bad man, won't be long until he's a top contender at LHW. He absolutely wrecked Lambert earlier in the year and stayed calm and waited for Soko to tire before unloading on him here.
Hopefully they can find Carwin another fight before the year is out. He's almost as big as Lesnar and if he's got submission defense he'll be really tough to stop.
Yeah watched it yesterday morning and was pretty much as expected. I confused Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor in my initial picks, I would have picked Marcus Davis had I realised. Paul Kelly Lytle was the real cracking fight of the night. Great matchmaking by J.Silva. Kelly never disappoints and he's now won 3 fight of the nights in a row!
Leben looked 'better', but was outclassed as I thought he'd be by Bisping. It was a little disappointing to have the gameplan to "win by points", but what can you do when the UFC's reffing and scoring system promotes that. I'd really like to see the scoring change so there'd be more draw's.. Unless someone clearly beats another fighter, then it could be considered a draw. I'd also put more weight to the final round in terms of scoring. With that in mind I could have easily scored the lytle-taylor and jardine-vera fight as draws.
Also, I was counting on Vera to not have his fire and that was the only reason I tipped Jardine. Vera has all the potential in the world, but he just needs to be a wrecking machine. I'm not sure why, but he just doesn't pull the trigger. Shame, I'm not sure where he goes from here.
Carwin is a beast and so is Cane.
Soko will learn from this and still has a LOT of potential. I do think people were overrating him on the back of his crazy Pride wins over Arona and Lil Nog. He's still doing well seeing he's only fought 8 times and 5-6 of those guys have been very high quality opponents. Some better strategy, gameplan and cardio will see Soko improve a lot. He's still only 24.
I'd love to see Soko's next fight against Houston Alexander.
GeneralDisarray
20 Oct 2008, 18:11
The fights went pretty much as expected. I'm impressed by how much Leben has changed but he brought back that wild style 3 mins into the first round after taking a few shots. Bisping's conditioning is first class. He never stops working and never looks tired. He worked the angles beautifully and picked Leben apart with his punches. It was a very Anderson Silva-esque gameplan which is what he said he'd do. I was very impressed by Bisping's post fight speech where he said he doesn't feel ready for a title shot yet and would prefer a couple of more fights against quality opponents. Great move.
Also, I was counting on Vera to not have his fire and that was the only reason I tipped Jardine. Vera has all the potential in the world, but he just needs to be a wrecking machine. I'm not sure why, but he just doesn't pull the trigger. Shame, I'm not sure where he goes from here.
Vera pisses me off so much. The man needs to take some serious angry pills.
Cane fought the smarter fight against Soko and it worked perfectly. Soko knows he has a lot of work to do.
Chris Lytle vs Paul Taylor was a great fight. Respect to Paul Taylor for choosing The Jam as his entrance music :thumbsu:
TigerTragic
20 Oct 2008, 19:48
I went to this and tbh while it was a fantastic event to attend live with the number of UK fighters on the bill, I was a little dissappointed with the main card, especially Jardine vs Vera which got a lot of boos from the crowd, not sure how it came across on tv. The crowd was right behind Bisping but Leben got a good reaction as well. Funniest thing was being at a live UFC even and hearing 15,000 scousers starting soccer chants...
'One Michael Bisping, there's only one Michael Bisping, walking along, singing a song, walking in a Bisping wonderland...' LOL... :cool:
GeneralDisarray
20 Oct 2008, 21:03
You could definitely hear the boos on tv during the Jardine vs Vera fight. I envy you Tiger Tragic. The way the British fans get into it no matter what the sport, is fantastic. Was UFC 89 anything like Premier League Darts?
Fppvy52FbIg
TigerTragic
20 Oct 2008, 22:30
Haha - nothing compares to the darts, but it was awesome nonetheless, and you know you're going to get a good atmosphere when they are serving beer in 1.3L cups :)
Forrest Gimp
20 Oct 2008, 22:55
I can't wait until they do a show in the Philippines. The fans will be absolutely rabid...
GeneralDisarray, great comedy. :D
Yeah, UFC 89 was an ordinary card, but thankfully most of the fights were very entertaining. Obviously, Dana is keen to consider British fighters on their own turf, and others who the British seem to have taken a liking to (i.e. Davis).
Like many here, I'm a big Bisping fan and I was delighted he beat Leben (who it's now revealed is a drug cheat). I was disappointed Bisping didn't knock him out though. It's what Leben deserved.
Luiz Cane has some serious talent. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. :thumbsu: