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Michael Bisping went through a challenging year in 2009, suffering a devastating loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in a fight which marked the first time the outspoken Brit had been knocked out, and only the second loss of his career. Although the majority of Bisping's 18 career wins have come by way of knockout or TKO, he is not well-known among UFC fans for his knockout power, something he is determined to change in 2010.
"I have got very good boxing and Thai-boxing but, for some reason, I don't put it out there during my fights as I should," Bisping told the Daily Telegraph. "I want to start knocking opponents clean out in 2010. Stoppage wins and TKOs are all well and good, but I want to start racking up some one-punch finishes on my record - starting with Silva at UFC 110."
As Bisping prepares to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, he plans to put the lessons learned from his loss to Henderson to good use against the legendary former Pride champion on Feb. 21. As difficult as the loss was to get through, Bisping claims he never lost his trademark confidence.
"My loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 last July set me back a little bit," Bisping said, "but it's never caused me to doubt my ability or re-think my goals. I've always known - and my team have always known - that I possess the skills to climb the UFC ladder and reach a title shot. Now I just need to prove it. Sport is so often about confidence, and being a mixed martial artist is no different. It's only natural that the Henderson defeat would have had some affect on me. It was the first time I'd ever been knocked out in my life, and it was something that I never expected to happen. It was a tough loss to take and something that I needed to get out of my system in my next fight."
Frustrated by his performance against Henderson, Bisping used it as motivation as he trained for his next fight, a bout with Denis Kang at UFC 105. The hard training paid off, and Bisping emerged victorious, finishing Kang with strikes in the second round. Although Bisping was successful against Kang, the preparation was an emotional time for him, and mentally he felt it was the toughest fight of his career.
"Nobody wants to suffer back-to-back losses and I'm no different," Bisping stated. "I was annoyed by the Henderson loss and felt I performed terribly that night. Moving into the Denis Kang fight (last November in Manchester, England), I was incredibly nervous - more so than I'd ever been before - simply because I knew what was at stake. I wasn't nervous about fighting Kang or his skills, but just nervous about what would happen if I suffered another loss. I didn't want to be known as someone who lost two big fights back-to-back like that. It would have badly hurt my career. Fortunately, I went out there and had a great fight. We had a great camp beforehand and thankfully I executed our game plan...
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