This might just have been the defining moment in Michael Bisping’s 10-year UFC career.
The 36-year-old British veteran put on the fight of his life to beat Anderson Silva in a brutal five-round war.
A perennial contender, beaten by the likes of Luke Rockhold, Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort, he was not going to be denied against one of the sport’s greatest ever fighters.
Going into the fight an underdog against the man who dominated the middleweight division for 16 straight fights and 2,457 days, he fought with real guts from start to finish.
He looked in control for the first two rounds – even dropping Silva with a heavy shot and putting him in deep trouble before the bell. But he was distracted by his mouthguard and took a vicious flying knee to the face which left him with a huge cut in a controversial third round.
He endured more punishment from the former champion including a front kick to the face which was already badly bloodied.
But the hardy Lancastrian weathered every single shot The Spider threw to take a decision victory 48-47 and make history in front of the home crowd at the 02 Arena.
Before the fight, Bisping told JOE if he won, he’d be phoning up Dana White to demand he finally gets a shot at the belt after a decade in the UFC.
It will be interesting to see where he goes from here after arguably his best octagon performance to date against the division’s number five-ranked middleweight.
You can watch his press conference live here….
