Michael Bisping didn’t have a problem with Marc Goddard stopping the UFC 281 main event between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, but sees why Israel Adesanya could be mad.
In the fifth round, Pereira landed a big shot that rocked Adesanya and after the Brazilian landed a few more, the fight was stopped. When Goddard stepped in, Adesanya appeared to complain about it. Michael Bisping didn’t think the stoppage was early but said if he was Adesanya he would be annoyed with the stoppage.
Alex Pereira ends the Israel Adesanya reign pic.twitter.com/ONEgbNmUY2
— Troydan (@Troydan) November 13, 2022
Michael Bisping Understands His Frustrations
“To be honest, I don’t think it was stopped early,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel regarding the stoppage (h/t MMAJunkie). “However, I think there’s a debate and discussion to have. If I were Israel, I’d be pretty annoyed. I love Marc Goddard, he’s one of the best in the business, I’m not saying that. But from a fighter’s perspective, if I want to have my belt taken off me, I want to be been choked unconscious and left on the floor in Madison Square Garden.”
“That’s exactly what GSP did to me. I think at that level of the game, you can let it go a little bit longer, but the fighter’s safety is absolutely paramount. Izzy was looking at the floor, but he was on the feet and kind of moving the head. So that is somewhat defensive. But still, nonetheless, it still wasn’t a bad stoppage.”
Entering that fifth round, Israel Adesanya was up three rounds to one and was on his way to defending his belt until the TKO loss. With that, Bisping believes Adesanya deserves an immediate rematch next time out.
