Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight strap-hanger, Michael Bisping, will collide with legendary knockout artist, Dan Henderson, this Saturday (Oct. 8, 2016) at UFC 204 inside Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Both in terms of his fighting style and road to the title, Bisping is a prime example of how consistency can pay off. The UFC and fighting itself are filled with a huge number of uncontrollable variables, but a steady athlete like Bisping will sometimes manage to take a step forward through all the chaos.
Counting UFC 204, Bisping has headlined eight events in the last three years. That means about every five months, I am tasked with analyzing the Englishman and noticing the minor changes in one of the sport’s most undeviating athletes.
Let’s take a closer at Bisping’s skill set.
Striking
A simple description of “high-volume kickboxer” is as accurate a description as ever of “The Count,” but all of his small improvements across the years have really added up. Though finishing via accumulation is still the name of his game, Bisping has found his power at 37 years of age.
On the whole, Bisping relies on his boxing more than anything else. He's a fairly long and tall Middleweight who makes good use of that range, peppering his opponents from the outside and keeping them on the end of his punches. A large part of this is due to his footwork, as Bisping does a nice job staying light on his feet and preventing his foe from closing the distance.
Bisping relies heavily on his straight punches. He does a nice job snapping his opponent's head back with the jab (GIF), and Bisping will follow up with a solid cross as well. This is really the core of Bisping's game -- he generally finds good success on the feet when sticking to simple combinations of long punches (GIF). Simple though they may be, Bisping's feints and activity make these combinations effective.
Bisping simply never stops poking at his opponent with these strikes.
If all of that seems pretty simple, it's because Bisping's boxing game isn't really that complicated. Bisping is just remarkably consistent about maintaining his movements, feints and form.
Composure was precisely what allowed Bisping to out-strike Anderson Silva for a vast majority of the fight. Silva tried to draw Bisping in and make him sloppy, but Bisping stayed disciplined and kept himself safe from most of the Brazilian's counter strikes.
As Silva failed to land, he became the one getting a bit wild, and that's when Bisping did his best work. Early in the fight, Bisping managed to rock and drop Silva by avoiding his counter punches and catching him off-guard (GIF).
In his last two bouts, much has been made about the power of Bisping’s left hook. Nowadays, Bisping does a far better job of turning his hips into the left hook, allowing him to land with far more force. The left hook is known as the king of counter punches for a reason, and Bisping stays ready to throw the strike thanks to his focus on remaining in good position.
Together, those traits allow him to find opportunities (GIF).
Beyond his boxing, it's worth mentioning that his overall kicking ability has improved greatly over the years. He now mixes chopping low kicks and quick head kicks into his game and movement rather efficiently, which is a nice wrinkle to his game.
Against a pair of counter punching Southpaw kickers in Silva and Rockhold, Bisping did a very nice job of disrupting their rhythm by attacking the lead leg. Often, his low kicks came in the form of quick round kicks, solely designed to unbalance his opponent’s stance. However, Bisping also attacked with push kicks to the lead leg, which makes throwing anything with power difficult.
By stymieing his opponent’s offense for a moment, Bisping lands an small strike with no consequence. If his opponent tries to force a counter or sloppily attacks from out-of-position in response, Bisping is in better position to land strikes.
Bisping is very much a fighter who gets better as the fight drags on. Because of his pace and excellent conditioning, Bisping is able to maintain his output and continue to establish his rhythm even deep into a fight. Meanwhile, his opponent -- even if he doesn't completely gas -- will usually start to slow down, which allows Bisping to land harder shots and become more effective.
As Bisping begins to land more, he builds upon his combinations. Rather than merely peck his opponent from the outside, Bisping will start to commit more of his weight to punches and dig to the body. By increasing his output even more, Bisping grows his advantage as his opponent is forced to do even more work (GIF).
Furthermore, Bisping will even close the distance a bit and work in the clinch. That's an area where he's rather effective with harder punches and knees, further taxing his opponent's conditioning as well.
All together, this makes Bisping a nightmare opponent for men without stellar gas tanks.
Defensively, Bisping has always been a hittable fighter. He has a habit of standing a bit too tall and attempting to back straight out of exchanges, which has left him open to wide counter punches. While he's only ever been knocked out by two of the hardest hitters in the sport's history, Bisping has been dropped quite a few additional times in many of his fights.
Wrestling
Bisping's wrestling grew from a weakness to a strength across his career. He's still not a very active offensive wrestler, but he's managed to shift the momentum of a few fights by scoring some key takedowns and landing with hard ground strikes.
When Bisping does look for the takedown, it's usually for a standard double-leg against the cage(GIF). Bisping does a nice job of disguising the shot by scoring with a lot of dirty boxing in the clinch before level changing, which helps him get deep on his opponent's hips.
Bisping is a very difficult man to takedown thanks in large part to his movement-heavy striking style. Bisping is constantly circling around -- often while he punches -- which makes lining up a double leg rather difficult. Since he prefers volume striking to stepping into power punches, it's not easy to catch him off-balance from punching either. Finally, Bisping's habit of striking at the end of his own range is also very helpful.
To counter his opponent's shot, Bisping has a strong sprawl and whizzer. If his opponent does manage to close the distance into the clinch or against the cage, Bisping is still a difficult man to control. Notably, he did a very nice job reversing the clinch opposite Chael Sonnen and forcing him back into the cage.
For a long time, Bisping was the absolute best at working back to his feet after being taken down. His loss to Kennedy — still the only man to truly control Bisping on the mat — may have caused him to lose that crown, but he’s still one of the best.
Once Bisping is taken down, he begins scooting toward the fence. To do this, he pushes away at his opponent, frames the face/head, and scoots his hips away. As his opponent clings to him, Bisping will dig for an underhook. Once he secures it, he'll lean into it and create space to stand. He may eat a few punches in the process, but this returns Bisping to his feet with an underhook.
If Bisping fails to get an underhook, he'll overhook his opponent's arm and use a whizzer. This still creates the space necessary to stand back up, it just leaves him in a less desirable position in the clinch (GIF).
Perhaps the most important aspect of wall-walking -- and returning to the feet in general -- is to never allow the top wrestler to secure a position. Bisping does not allow his opponent to settle and begin attacking with strikes or submissions, as Bisping has already began the process of standing back up.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Bisping is not much of an offensive jiu-jitsu player, but he's nonetheless proven his grappling ability. When on the mat, he does a decent job working to advance position, though it's usually with the goal of landing ground strikes rather than attempting submissions.
Defensively, Bisping is a very solid grappler. He's only ever been submitted once in his long career, and that was directly after absorbing a nasty head kick from Rockhold. A more fair example of his defensive grappling came against Kennedy, as Bisping repeatedly recovered from bad positions to get back to his guard and avoided the grappler's submission attempts.
Conclusion
In the last ten months, Bisping’s legacy has completely changed. Rather than being looked at as a tough veteran who consistently fought for years, Bisping has defeated “The Spider” and stolen the UFC strap. As England’s first champion, Bisping has finally lived up to goals he set long ago. While the dream will end at some point, Bisping is fighting to add a title defense to his list of accomplishments, as well as shut up an old rival.
*****
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, is an undefeated amateur fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport's most elite fighters.