Earlier than former UFC champions Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier name the motion at UFC 312 on Saturday, that they had fairly the dialogue about wrestling in MMA.
Through the UFC 312 weigh-in present, the panel — which included Bisping, Cormier, and former featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski — was requested about which weapon they would favor to make use of in a battle; Zhang Weili’s “precision hanging,” or Tatiana Suarez’s “wrestling and grappling” forward of their co-main occasion championship battle in Sydney. Bisping mentioned the latter “all day,” and Volkanovski agreed, whereas Cormier was on the opposite facet of issues.
Watch the controversy within the video above.
“You guys are out of your minds in case you assume you don’t must study to wrestle offensively to defend takedowns,” Cormier mentioned. “You’re loopy. In case you begin simply studying takedown protection, you’re screwed.”
Bisping and Volkanovski disagreed, with Bisping outright telling Cormier he’s “mistaken.”
“Cage wrestling, wrestling in a combined martial arts battle in opposition to the fence, is nothing like precise wrestling on a mat,” Bisping mentioned.
“[My son] Callum is a approach higher wrestler than me. I’ll decide him up and slam him on his ass. And I’ve achieved it, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, however that’s that bullshit in a cage.’ Actual wrestlers suck balls [in a cage]. You convey any of these guys in a cage, except they learn to do it in a cage, I’ll f*cking head kick their head off. They’re shit. They suck, and that’s why most of them can’t do shit.”
Cormier retorted by saying a number of the greener wrestlers-turned-MMA fighters focus an excessive amount of on double leg takedowns, and that the sport has developed the place most fighters can defend that approach. He then pointed as Bisping and declared that the previous middleweight champion can’t defend a single leg, to which “The Rely” objected.
“You place me up in opposition to the fence, DC, you can not take me down with a single leg — even with my dangerous hip and my dangerous neck,” Bisping mentioned.
Jon Anik did his greatest to keep up order and transfer the phase on, however he might have his fingers full once more on Saturday if the dialog comes up
