UFC commentator Michael Bisping recently drew ire for criticizing Kevin Holland’s fight IQ in his headliner against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson last weekend. Now, on his YouTube channel, Bisping is declaring Thompson vs Holland a contender for “best fight we’ve ever seen inside the UFC Octagon”.
“Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson vs. Kevin Holland might have been the best fight that we’ve ever seen inside the UFC octagon.
Bisping Backtracks: Holland vs Thompson Might Be “The Best Fight We’ve Ever Seen”
I know, that’s big talk. You’re crazy, Bisping. We’ve had a lot of good fights and maybe it’s recency bias, but in Orlando, Fla., Saturday night in front of a sold-out house, the crowd was epic. That fight was ridiculous, okay? Absolutely ridiculous.
The techniques that we saw from Stephen Thompson, the showmanship and the gameness and toughness that we saw from Kevin Holland, and the excitement back-and-forth. I mean, come on. It doesn’t really get much better than that.”
Thompson in particular put on a striking masterclass, displaying his broad repertoire of karate kicks and techniques throughout the fight.
“Both guys kind of agreed, it was kind of an unwritten rule, we shook hands, they said we’re not going to take each other down, and that was awesome.
For these two, coming into this one, agreeing that they were going to fight, my god. Absolutely sensational stuff and they stayed true to that. ‘Wonderboy’ showed all of his skills. The kicks, the spinning hook kicks, the striking, the punching charges, were just unbelievable. But Kevin Holland landed a lot of huge shots as well.”
Bisping conceded that he had critiqued Holland’s performance in relation to the grappling aspect of the fight, but clarified his position. “It wasn’t a criticism, I was critiquing the performance.
Because as analysts, as commentators, that’s what we have to do. Granted, at that moment in time when the fight was happening, it was sensational. I even said this might have been one of the greatest fights I’ve ever witnessed. As I say, maybe a little recency bias, but you can’t deny that fight was sensational.
So you kind of had some people scratching their heads after the fact that I said Kevin Holland should have gone for takedowns. And he should have. Because yes, as a fan, sensational, and this is certainly not a criticism of Kevin Holland. No way, that fight was amazing, but when it’s done, it’s our jobs as analysts to sit down and say what could have went different?”
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