Why Michael Bisping Will Probably Beat Yoshihiro Akiyama

I wouldn’t call myself a fan of the UFC’s UK posterboy Michael Bisping, but perhaps you could call me a bit of an advocate. More and more nowadays I see people completely disregarding his talent and forecasting doom on every single one of his fights. Here’s a more concrete example: back in the days and weeks leading up to UFC 110, people were practically screaming that Wanderlei Silva would murder Bisping, and some see the victory as a dominant performance by “The Axe Murderer” to this day. In truth, it was a very close fight that perhaps Wanderlei only won by closing out the rounds with go-for-broke flurries. Regardless of how you scored Silva/Bisping, once again I’m hearing how Bisping is going to be no match for his opponent, this time Yoshihiro Akiyama, when the two meet at the upcoming UFC 120 event. And that’s just not true.

I think the main problem with Michael Bisping is that his attitude overshadows his attributes. I don’t want to call anybody xenophobic, but maybe we should admit to ourselves that it’s easier to hate a cocky Brit than a lot of other cocky fighters? Some people loved Chael Sonnen’s antics, some people loved Brock Lesnar’s. But it seems like almost every American fan is unified in hating Michael Bisping for his cocky, brash attitude. It’s very easy to embellish the losses and understate the victories of a fighter you passionately hate, and quite a lot of people really can’t stand Michael Bisping.

But Bisping has far more experience inside the Octagon than Akiyama. It’s true that both men started fighting in 2004, but Bisping has a whopping twelve UFC fights to Akiyama’s two. Bisping’s record stands at 9-3 inside the world’s best and biggest MMA promotion, Akiyama’s is 1-1. And if you argue that Bisping should be 8-4, resurrecting the zombified corpse that is the Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping fight, then you must also take into consideration that Akiyama should be 0-2, as his debut win against Alan Belcher at UFC 100 was not without its own fair share of controversy. Bisping has fought some of the best Middleweights and Light Heavyweights in the UFC, and even if he’s lost a time or two, that experience has propelled him to continually refine himself and emerge a better overall performer each time he’s faced adversity. Now that Akiyama has tasted defeat in a big way via a loss to Chris Leben’s fight-stealing Triangle Choke at UFC 116, it will be interesting to see if Akiyama has such rebirths in him.

I’d also argue that Michael Bisping has better striking than Yoshihiro Akiyama. It’s true that, in the eyes of many, Akiyama got the better of heavy-handed striker Chris Leben in their recent fight, but Leben and Bisping have very different styles. And did you know that, despite being known for his striking far more than Michael Bisping, both Bisping and Leben actually have the same number of (T)KO’s on their records? And after the particularly humbling KO loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100, Bisping’s striking has gone up several levels. Against Dennis Kang it looked unstoppable, against Dan Miller it looked inescapable, and despite it failing him in the Wanderlei Silva fight, Bisping held his own in a predominantly stand-up fight with one of the best strikers MMA has ever seen.

Now, this is not to say that Michael Bisping is invincible, or that Akiyama is without skill. The title says “probably beat”, not “will beat”. In fact, if this article convinces you that Bisping has at least some chance, rather than none, then I’ll consider it a success. In truth, I like both of these guys. I think this will be an awesome fight, and while I can grudgingly admit that it’s a less-than-stellar main event for a PPV card, it’s a very solid fight and a great main event for British fans, where Bisping is most famous. Bisping is simply deserving of a lot more credit than I see being given to him leading into this fight.

But what do you think, fans and friends? How good of a chance does Bisping have to beat Akiyama?