Rankings be damned, Michael Bisping vs Dan Henderson II is the main event UFC 204 deserves.
46-year-old Henderson will bow out of the sport on the highest possible note by taking on UFC champion Bisping for the middleweight strap.
Up until a few months ago, that sentence would be laughed off as a fantasy of some crazed fanboy and would never actually happen, but on October 4, 2016, never is scheduled to go down in Manchester.
It's on!! #UFC204 @Bisping vs. @DanHendo in Manchester on Oct 8!! 🎟 https://t.co/9poyBi5h2d pic.twitter.com/NGcdXsbZBf
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) August 15, 2016
When the rumours started circling after UFC 199 that Hendo would get one last shot at claiming MMA’s top prize, there was a lot of backlash.
He isn’t the number-one contender according to the rankings. In fact, in the last update he was joint-12th alongside Tim Kennedy, who hasn’t fought in nearly two years.
This title fight doesn’t really make sense, and that’s exactly why the UFC matchmakers deserve the plaudits for having the cojones to book it.
Michael Bisping doing what he does best https://t.co/qljaeLzlwq
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 10, 2016
Henderson entered into his last bout against Hector Lombard after losing six of his eight previous bouts, three of which were knockouts. A lot of people expected Lombard to mop the floor with him and give him the final push he’d need to finally call time on his almost 20-year career.
After being on the cusp of being finished in the opening frame, there wasn’t a lot of hope for Hendo pulling off the upset, but like we’ve seen from him numerous times before, Henderson produced a moment of magic and ended the contest with a knockout blow.
A vicious elbow to the temple and the course of the fight was changed.
https://twitter.com/DenisLaFunk_/status/739518451056836609
Having held belts in Strikeforce and Pride, he has already solidified his place as one of the greats, but that coveted UFC strap has always eluded him.
He lost both his title fights in the big leagues to Rampage Jackson and Anderson Silva respectively. He had another one booked against Jon Jones in 2012, but after rupturing his MCL, the fight, along with their entire card was scrapped.
For a long time, Bisping knew this feeling all too as he was perpetually on the cusp of getting his title shot, but had always fallen short in title eliminator bouts.
In 2012, he lost a narrow decision to Chael Sonnen, who went on to fight Anderson Silva for the middleweight crown in his next trip to the Octagon. However, his first title run ended in more devastating fashion when a certain American hero shut his lights off with a patented H-Bomb from hell, before following it up with a devastating flying punch on the ground.
After a decade in the promotion, Bisping seized his opportunity for glory by knocking out heavy favourite Luke Rockhold inside the first round at UFC 199 in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in UFC history.
No one had given the 37-year-old British veteran any hope of winning after he stepped in for Chris Weidman at two weeks’ notice, especially considering we had seen Rockhold submit him with a one-armed guillotine in 2014, but Bisping flipped the script and turned the division on its head.
Who’s to say that Henderson, the man who keeps on proving the doubters wrong, who has mastered the art of pulling a brutal knockout blow out of the bag when he appears to be on the brink of losing and who has been such a servant to this wonderful sport, couldn’t do the same against Bisping?
