I think its all too convienient that the judges were chosen by the UFC and that Bisping was their next up and coming star. I dont care what White or the judges say, it seems way to fishy and looks to be a giftwrapped vistory. Hamill stalked him like a dog the entire match, he controled the fight, comon now, how can they not see that? Hamill may be def but the judges are obviously blind.

I was rooting for Bisbing to win, however I have tremendous respect for hamill. Its quite obvious Hamill won the fight, however a draw would have been a little more believable. Neither fighter really impressed me much. Hamill needs to work on his techniques and Bisbing needs to be more hungry and quit running. Definitely a rematch.

A draw would have benn wrong in my books!!!
Hamill clearly won....plain and simple.
I hope there is a rematch.
Although it doesnt change the fact that Hamill won this fight.

i have respect for both of the fighters ever since the ultimate fighter. i absolutely favor michael bispig over matt hamill. but heres the thing matt beat his ass all over the place there needs to be a rematch in ufc 76

Of course the judges are going to defend their scoring. I for one don't think there was any funny business going on but to use the old "angle" excuse is lame. Close to 20,000 people saw it live and from all angles and how many millions saw if from MANY angles on tv? and the consensus is that Hamill won the fight CLEARLY. True, Matt didn't always capitalize on his take downs, but he did take him down almost at will and his own take-down defense was EXCELLENT. Furthermore the judges need glasses if they think Bisping got the better of the stand-up. Matt OWNED Michael standing up and was in control of the fight standing and on the ground almost the whole time.

Dana,

Many are amazed that Hamill in his loss has garnered so much support. I am not surprised.

Here is the lesson - no matter how much stuff is stacked against you, no matter how much you want to win, no matter how much you want to succeed, INTEGRITY COUNTS (contrast this with Tito’s, “if you are not cheating you are not trying hard enough.”)

Hamill maintained his integrity under fire. I have become a fan.

Dana, you have become indifferent; accepting all requests in trade for the mighty dollar.

Man up and change the scoring system. Man up and force checks and balances to ensure judges dont have scoring bias towards a specific discipline. Man up and clarify the scoring system; ie - is it heavy hands and ring control or is it stylish jabs and back-peddling that earn points. Is this ballet or is this MMA. Dude, you need to man up and ensure your fighters are stepping into an environment that doesnt rape their efforts to be the best fighters they can be. Make this clear to all. MMA is fair and just.

Matt, thanks for illustrating grace under fire. Thanks for showing heart and integrity. Thanks for showing us you can be a man and stand for something with class and dignity.

Dana, stop giving the mighty dollar the reach around and correct this garbage before it takes this sport.

Peace

Here we go again. I used to follow boxing until it got so corrupt by money-grubbing a-holes. Yes, it was practically always corrupt to some degree, but by the time Tyson started coming up it was just ridiculous. So here comes the UFC. Mixed Martial Arts at its best… until now. While the skill level and fighters in general improving, I’m getting the feeling that the greedy a-holes are now getting ready to destroy this sport as well. All sports fans aren’t stupid, and someone will bring something else to the table that will replace the UFC if certain folks aren’t careful. The Bisping decision wasn’t the first questionable issue, but people are starting to see an all too familiar trend. Maybe it isn’t corruption, maybe it’s just bad judging, or who knows? I’ll try to hope for the best. Bottom line, we are watching, and hoping unscrupulous scumbags do not destroy this sport too.

I do not care what they say, for god sake we all watch the fight. It was very clear who dominate the fight, bisping got his ass kicked.

Ok first off I think the fight was rigged.
They were trying to make Bisping look good to the London crowd.
I do not think it was by accident that they had Hamill come out to the song born in the USA and had Bisping come out to London is calling.
Then the hometown boy wins.
That was totally a WWE thing.
This seems so off to me .
Dana Whit should be ashamed and I think there should be an apology from White to Hamill

Hamil won the fight from ANY angle. Why would it depend on 'what angle' you saw the fight? How tough was it to see from any angle that Bisping spent the night running away from Hamill's pursuit, falling into punch after punch, and being thrown to the mat at Hamill's will? The UFC's excuses sound way too rehearsed to hold any credibility. They need to face it; they blatantly favored a fighter, got busted by skeptical public, and are now trying to save face. It's a shame.

Where to begin.....Well I unfortunately am one of those who feels it was set up. Trust me when I say I watched the tape over and over(as many mma fans have) using the scoring criteria and the judges explanations to guide me. I wanted so bad to see it as judges scored it, but after 8 or 9 viewings........my anger and disbelief just seemed to grow. Angles?Tired?Takedowns count for nothing.....I've been watching and supporting since UFC 1 and this I can't reduce to just a bad call and move on. This was clearly with out a doubt in my mind a set up. Not another penny from me ever.....If only this had taken place before Pride sold. Capitalism sux!

I would be ashamed to be one of those brit fans who cheered that god awful comment bisping made about Matt in the post fight interview. Bisping needs to get fed to Liddell
in his next fight so he can get what he deserves, "another ass kicking".
The UFC is starting to look like a joke, and I for one will never purchase another UFC.

Lol come on Ryan reed get a grip. It was just a bad decision its not like its going to happen very much in the future

Hamil won this fight, after reviewing the fight he dominated all 3 rounds had more taked downs and did more damage in all 3. Bisping was running like a bitch and couldnt even go toe to toe just for the that he should have lost, the judges that called rounds 1 and 3 to Bisping are friggen Idiots and should be fired immadiatley, Hamill should have won unanimousley he was robbed messed up his UFC record for nothing, Dana needs to be investigated for fraud

I have commented already ...however I did want to compliment you.
I have only been reading your blog here for a few days but I find it very interesting and your a great writer keep up the good work

As i said before, UFC/MMA is going to go right into the same loud rap, head banging, macho crap the wwf has, of course wrestling as a pro sport was always fake crap performed by steroid dance freaks, Who in their right mind also think Forrest Griffin didn't beat ortiz???
I will not spend a dime to see a rematch of this fight, If White has a ball he will have a free(for all) brawl between griffin and Ortiz and Hamil V bizbling..with fair scoring and judges who know MMA.
No BS winner takes all...

I think something more sinister may be going on with regards to the Hammil/Bisping fight. Could it be a simple case of making the disabled guy leave without firing him before he gets hurt or even killed. May be he's too much of a liability and to much of risk for Dana and Co. If he does get hurt will the sports future be in question or made to be reformed???

Maybe Dana could even quit using punk style foul language in his interviews and start acting like the President of a huge business. Talk about a wanna be bad ass. Dana should become treasurer and the real President of UFC should take over after he comes down and avenges his two losses to Chuck. Dan has no place speaking or being in screen. This sport has outgrown him 10 fold.

I was at the O2 arena watching the event and was really hoping Bisping would win.

One thing that didn't seem so obvious when watching the event later on TV was how many people were booing when the judges decision was announced. These were the same people who were cheering for Bisping as he walked to the octagon. If Bisping fans were disagreeing with the decision there was obviously something wrong with the judges scoring.

I found Bisping entertaining on the Ultimate Fighter series and I always get a laugh out of his pre-fight interviews, but his comments after this fight suggesting that he was the better fighter were pretty surprising. I would have at least thought he would hand it to Matt for putting up a good fight. It is funny how 2 out of 3 judges saw the fight differently to an arena full of spectators who were actually viewing from a 360 degree view (so I don't see where the 'angle' argument applies here). As much as I was hoping for Bisping to win, I certainly don't think he deserved to win this one.

whaa Whaaaa Whaaaa all you people do is cry. It was a bad call and thats it. Grow up Hamill is not loseing nothing and Bisbing is not gaining nothing by this. The truth is the fight was a draw. Hamill did nothing after getting him down nothing. The only time he really scored is when he held him and hit him. Hamill is still one dimensinal. Bisbing did not train properly. Rematch Bisbing will win by K.O.

"The only time he really scored is when he held him and hit him" I disagree with this statement completely and so do the guidelines for scoring MMA fights in the UFC. This controversy will eventually fade with time no doubt,but it will be used in reference for years to come. A rematch will probably happen, although I won't watch it even if it is free(PPV would be even more insulting) but wouldnt be surprised if Dana expected me to pay.
Bisping's PR scramble is a little after the fact in my mind. I would have cut him a break on the post fight, taking adrenaline into account, but the press conference was brutal.
I've yet to come accross any plausible explanation for what took place on Saturday from anyone. The judges, and the UFC see it one way and the majority of fans/writers see it another. It doesn't matter what country they from or who they were cheering for, the majority of fans have spoken and say they smelt something nasty in the air that night.

This fight was a joke, it actually made me lose a lot of respect for the UFC. Hammil clearly won the fight, and the fight was given to bisping because it was in the UK. I also think that the Dana White wants to make sure the fighters who won the The Ultimate Fighter win fights because it might drive up ratings for the show. Hammil beat him in the stand up, and on the ground, and some how got screwed out of the decision. Before this fight I didn't really care who won, but after this bullshit Hammil was respectful and I want to see him beat the shit out of bisping in a rematch.

Junaid Rafique.....are you serious?
Hamill is deaf...if anything he is going to hurt someone else because he doesn't hear the bell.
What makes you think that he is going to get hurt or killed?
Because he is deaf?
I dont understand your point.