Typically, most people automatically say whoever holds the title in the UFC is the No. 1 guy in that division, at least in the UFC, right?
Well, Keith Jardine isn't so sure... and that's not because he's bragging and saying that he is the No. 1 guy in the UFC's 205-pound division.
Obviously referring to a crazy round-robin of wins and losses, the UFC's light heavyweight division does make for some strange MMA math. Rampage beat Liddell who beat Wanderlei who beat Jardine who beat Forrest who beat Rampage and is the champ. Say what?!
"This was a huge fight," said Jardine after his win over Brandon Vera at UFC 89 before adding, "The division is weird. Forrest (Griffin) is the champ right now, but who knows who the best guy is? It could be the number one guy. It could be the number ten guy. There's a lot of undefeated guys. There's a lot of guys coming up. I think it's going take a year or so to sort this thing out."
Every time he turns around someone is asking Michael Bisping about getting a shot at the UFC middleweight title held by current king Anderson Silva. As he said after his win over Chris Leben at UFC 89, if he had a pound for every time someone asked, he wouldn't really need to be fighting.
"I'm happy with the way it's going," Bisping said at the UFC 89 post-fight press conference. "You've got to win your fights and that's what I'm doing. I just take it one step at a time. I don't want to get ahead of myself."
"Whenever it comes I'll be happy. If they said next fight, I'd be happy. If they said five fights, I'd be happy. As I've said, you've got to earn that right at a title shot. Have I done it yet? I probably haven't. I don't think I have. That's what I want to do. I want to earn it. I don't just want to be given it because I'm from the U.K. or whatever. I want to earn that right, and I want to beat the best guys in the division."
Chris "The Crippler" Leben went into UFC 89 with the intentions of knocking Michael "The Count" Bisping out, but found himself at the end of the Englishman's punches and unable to solidly connect with his looping strikes.
Frustration mounted in the waning moments of round two when Leben dropped his hands and walked in without defense into Bisping's jabs in an effort to get The Ultimate Fighter season three winner to exchange with him.
Leben would repeat the same tactic in the final seconds for round three. "He had landed more shots during the fight. I knew he had probably won those other rounds, so I said, I've got to draw him in somehow," explained Leben.
"I was playing ever card I had. At that point I was like screw the straight. I was trying to get him to come in and bang with me a little bit and maybe I can land that shot," he added. "Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. This time I didn't. It was Bisping's night."
At an Q & A event for UFC Fight Club members on Friday in Birmingham, England, UFC president Dana White told the crowd who's invited to the Octagon party, and who's not.
Most promisingly, White acknowledged for the first time his desire to import Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto for a fight with Uriah Faber in the WEC.
Almost from the time he stepped foot inside the re-vamped organization, Faber has asked to fight Yamamoto. Politics and scheduling seem to have left the idea in the "what if" category of future fights, but White's desire could clear some of the roadblocks that have prevented the meeting.
In the "will happen when hell freezes over" category were Josh Barnett and Frank Shamrock. At one point or another, White has butted heads with the iconoclasts, and doesn't like either. In the media, Shamrock has trashed White at every opportunity. "I hate him, he hates me," White concurred.
White says he would sign Shamrock, but isn't holding his breath.
"I hate Tito too, and he fought for us," White continued. "Business is business."
White had little answer for the question of the year--when Fedor Emelianenko would grace the Octagon.
"It's not as easy as it seems," he said in a familiar retort. "The whole Fedor thing ought to be proof of that, how hard it really is to deal with some of these guys."
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this fifth episode Chris gets tatted by world renowned tattoo artist Mike Ledger, and then works on his boxing skills.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
The latest edition of ESPN's MMA Live has a preview of Saturday's UFC 89 taking place in Birmingham, England, and the crew sits down for a talk with EliteXC star Gina Carano.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this fourth episode Steve English (strength and conditioning coach at ICON Fitness Center) takes Chris and June to see his friends at Skydive Hawaii for a quick jump at 14,000 ft..
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Keith Jardine talks about facing Brandon Vera at UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. He carries a lot of respect for Vera, but is excited for the match-up and ready to put himself back in the hunt for the light heavyweight title.
MMAWeekly.com will have live play-by-play of UFC 89, but it will also air in the U.S. on a tape delayed basis on Spike TV on Saturday night.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this third episode Chris goes through some rigorous training with strength and conditioning coach Steve English.
Leading up to his UFC 89 bout with Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, Michael Bisping has started a video blog that has episodes on his official website, Bisping.tv.
This is great informal look at Bisping and what he's going through as the days narrow down and Saturday nears.
Continue to check back to the MMA Insider Blog for more video blog entries from Michael Bisping.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
In this second episode Chris takes a few members of the Icon Fight Team on a mission to the top of Koko Head Crater. The mission... to replace a damaged heavybag that has been a the top of the mountain for years.
Watch Chris Leben Evolution of an Icon: Episode 1.
Yes, we know this is a little dated, but this documentary on Marcus Davis and his fight team, Team Irish, gives some extensive insight into Davis' background. He talks in depth about his boxing career - more than 20 wins - and how his interest in MMA was sparked much like several other fighters... watching the UFC.
Marcus has made his fifth consecutive trip across the Atlantic for the UFC, as he is scheduled to fight undefeated Paul Kelly on Saturday night at UFC 89 on Spike TV. He is 6-1 in the Octagon, his only loss being a unanimous decision in a his last fight, to Mike Swick, at UFC 85. He looks to rebound against Michael Bisping's Wolfslair teammate at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England.
Our friends over at BetUs.com have odds up for many of the upcoming UFC and WEC fights. Of course, they've got a couple of lines for Saturday's UFC 89 event in Birmingham, England.
The latest odds for UFC 89 as of Tuesday evening have Michael Bisping favored over Chris Leben, and Brandon Vera over Keith Jardine.
Chris Staab and Double Vision Productions created a web-based documentary series on Chris Leben, who is slated to face Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 89 on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Birmingham, England. These are short five to six minute videos that give an interesting behind the scenes type look at Chris Leben and his Team Icon fighters in Hawaii.
This first episode gives viewers an introduction to Leben and his surroundings at the Icon gym.
Since making his move to the middleweight division, popular British fighter Michael Bisping has had a very hard time keeping his name away from matchmakers across the globe putting him in a title fight against current UFC champion Anderson Silva.
Bisping takes the fans enthusiasm as a huge compliment, but also knows ultimately it's up to the UFC who he fights and when.
"Me personally, I take the compliment from it, but I don't read too much into it," Bisping said to MMAWeekly Radio recently. "Obviously, it's very flattering."
Never one to jump ahead of himself, the Brit admits that he'd always accept a title shot, but it's not something he wishes for yet at this point in his career as a 185-pounder.
"If a title fight was offered in my next fight, obviously I'd take it, but right now if I had a say in it, I wouldn't want that just yet," Bisping stated. "I'm still maturing as a fighter. I'd still want two or three more fights before I got that opportunity."
First things first, Bisping takes his shot at Chris Leben this weekend in England at UFC 89.
There's no denying that Chris Leben will be the one stepping into the lion's cage when he faces Michael Bisping at UFC 89 on Saturday night... and that's fine by him.
Bisping is far and away the biggest mixed martial arts star in England and the crowd will be whole-heartedly behind him when he and Leben enter the Octagon.
Leben addressed the crowd situation in a recent UFC conference call promoting the fight:
"Michael's a star over here and it's an honor to fight him over here. I wouldn't want it any other way. I've said it before, I'll say it again, I like being the bad guy. I really do.
There's nothing cooler than... he can make thousands of people scream, that's cool, but when, come the 18th, when I make 'em all go dead still and quiet, that's going to be something real special."
Of course, Bisping couldn't let that lie, and you could hear the Cheshire grin on his face through the phone line when he responded, "Well, just don't count on that experience."
This is the Ultimate Fighting Championship's official promotional video for UFC 89 in England. The Oct. 18 fight card features a main event of Ultimate Fighter alumni Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben.
The main card is scheduled to air on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/PT on a tape delayed basis: -Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben -Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (#8 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Luiz Cane -Keith Jardine (#10 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Brandon Vera -Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly -Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle
ESPN.com has a UFC video interview with Brandon Vera, who is slated to face Keith Jardine in a light heavyweight showdown at UFC 89 in England next week.
As he told MMAWeekly.com, weight cutting was a problem for Vera in his last fight, he hadn't cut weight in nine years, fighting primarily at heavyweight. Vera says he's ready for Jardine's awkward style and has a game plan for the Greg Jackson-trained fighter.
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