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This past weekend at the O2 Arena in London, England, native son Michael Bisping out-pointed and out-worked another tough opponent to make it two in a row since a February loss to Wanderlei Silva. "The Count" survived some scary moments in the opening stanza courtesy opponent Yoshihiro Akiyama's sledgehammer punches to come back and earn a unanimous decision over his opponent and a hefty "Fight of the Night" bonus.
Though it seemed clear that Bisping was simply more well-conditioned and disciplined in his approach than Japanese-Korean judoka Akiyama, "Sexyama" believes that there was something else contributing to the Brit's winning performance. MMAFighting.com caught the following quote made by Akiyama when asked by Japanese press why he chose to pursue a striking match instead of implementing his vaunted judo game to get the fight to the mat.
"I only went for one takedown but Bisping's body was really slippery," Akiyama said. "Even if I do say so myself..."
Akiyama has drawn some heat for his comments, as many have been pointing out that he had a 2006 TKO victory over MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba from a K-1 Hero's event changed to a No Contest after admitting that he had applied lotion to his body before the fight; making it near-impossible for his grappling-focused opponent to snag a takedown.
Though it seemed clear that Bisping was simply more well-conditioned and disciplined in his approach than Japanese-Korean judoka Akiyama, "Sexyama" believes that there was something else contributing to the Brit's winning performance. MMAFighting.com caught the following quote made by Akiyama when asked by Japanese press why he chose to pursue a striking match instead of implementing his vaunted judo game to get the fight to the mat.
"I only went for one takedown but Bisping's body was really slippery," Akiyama said. "Even if I do say so myself..."
Akiyama has drawn some heat for his comments, as many have been pointing out that he had a 2006 TKO victory over MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba from a K-1 Hero's event changed to a No Contest after admitting that he had applied lotion to his body before the fight; making it near-impossible for his grappling-focused opponent to snag a takedown.
