Michael Bisping believes that the coaches in UFC need to take a page out of boxing and be more open to throw in the towel and protect their fighters.
Rafael dos Anjos destroyed Renato Moicano in the co-main event of UFC 272 this past weekend. Moicano, who accepted the fight on short notice, was frequently knocked down and battered on the ground for 25 minutes. It reached a point where the UFC’s commentary crew urged his corner to stop the fight.
The choice to keep the fight going has gotten a lot of attention in the aftermath. Some have claimed that Moicano’s little comeback in the fifth round proves his coaches were right all along. On the other hand, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping is sticking to his guns.
Bisping was in the UFC 272 commentary booth. He argued that Moicano’s corner was doing their guy a disservice by allowing the fight to go on. He still believes they should have thrown in the towel a few days after the event.
“It does [make me uncomfortable],” Bisping said Wednesday on TheMMAHour. “The last thing I would ever want to do is have my words be construed as insulting to Moicano. I have tremendous respect for what he did and what he went through; to step up to the plate on Tuesday and take on dos Anjos for five rounds at a catchweight is an incredible feat of bravery in itself. But the reality is, after three rounds, he was not gonna win that fight. It’s impossible to win a decision. He didn’t have the snap or the pop to beat dos Anjos or finish dos Anjos, and he was just beaten by the better man on the night. That’s how it goes.”
Moicano was clearly beaten, with dos Anjos admitting that he did it on purpose saying “took his foot off the gas” Because he was so far ahead in the fifth round.
Despite the brutality of the beating, Moicano praised referee Marc Goddard for allowing the fight to continue earlier this week, saying: “otherwise, I would not know what im made of”.
Corner stoppages exist in combat sports to shield combatants from their toughness. However, corner stoppages in MMA are uncommon, and Bisping feels it’s because the same fighting attitude has spread to the coaches.
“A lot of coaches need to man up” – Michael Bisping slams the fighter corners for lack of involvement
“In mixed martial arts, for whatever reason, we just don’t see it,” Bisping said. “I know Jason Parillo threw the towel in when B.J. Penn fought Georges St-Pierre for the second time. There aren’t many other occasions I can think of where that happens. … But in boxing, it’s a common thing. It happens a lot. I think that a lot of coaches [in MMA] need to man up. You’re looking after your fighter. I think what it is, a lot of coaches attach their ego to the fighter, because they go through it together. They want them to win, and then by winning, that is kind of like the coach winning as well. And if the fighter’s losing, that’s the coach losing.”
The coach’s goal is to protect his fighter’s health and safety, which can be challenging in a sport based on victory bonuses. However, Bisping contends that failing to protect their fighters jeopardises their health and their long-term career chances.
“Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘You know what, today’s not our day. You’re gonna lose and I want you to continue to have a long, fruitful career’. Because nevermind the physical damage they’re going to endure in that fight — Moicano was a mess, let’s be honest — the psychological damage is even more,” Bisping said. “It’s one thing to get caught. If you get caught by a shot and you get knocked out, fighters have a great way of convincing ourselves, ‘Well we just got caught. We all get caught here and there.’
“But to get systematically beaten down for five rounds to where commentators say this needs to be stopped, there’s psychological trauma there. That’s going to affect your confidence going forward, and there’s a potential that fighter may never be the same again. So right then and there, if they’re stopping that fight, they are saving the fighter’s career.
“So what, you lose some here and there. Go home, feel sorry for yourself, heal up, and get back in the saddle. Doing that [not stopping the fight], you never know, there could be lifelong injuries.”
