Post UFC127 thoughts...

Would Bisping have been disqialified if Rivera hadn't got up? or a No Contest 

Ebersole has immediately gained a stature like Clay guida in my eyes.
Very entertaining to watch and obv has a varied skillset, a breath of fresh air (what about his chest hair )

I thought Rivera made the most of it obv was hit illegally but I'm not convinced he was as hurt as he made out, took him two or three secs before he started all the wide eyed sheight.

Bisping looks very beatable, whilst a gamer he does seem to be a little uncomfortable in the stand up and never seems to relax, going to have big cardio issues if fighting in hard 3 rounders or championship fights.

Mark Hunt looked to me as if he had a lapse as if he was waiting for the ref to make a ten count,you know what you get with Hunt but is it asking too much for him to get in better shape.

I agree with ELG that should be the end of BJ Penn he found it hard to get motivated when he was at his best so now hows he going to do it.Round 3 was just a one sided brutal beating.

The ufc cut doctor is walking a fine line too that was a very bad cut(hunts oppo)and he seems to let them carry on at will, the last thing the ufc need is exposure due to someone being disfigured.

I used to think the one thing the UFC had over boxing was the judges decisions, in that you could rarely argue with the outcomes (unlike boxing) but of late the judges must have been eyeing up arianny instead of watching the fights.

Yep, I'd never heard of Ebersole before but have now watched 6 or 7 of his fights and he's become one of my favourites. This is a good interview (Ariel Helwani unsurprisingly) with Ebersole last week:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ArielHelwani#p/u/23/lrHYsyPom28

Bisping would have lost by disqualification if Rivera said he couldn't fight on, so fair play to him for continuing.  I do support Bisping but I do wish he wasn't so insecure/thin skinned; the pre-fight videos were purely hype and he should see them as purely that.

The Tuscherer v Hunt fight should certainly have been stopped:

Tushcerere: "There's something in my eye"
Doctor: "It's your eyelid"

MMA has judging just as bad as boxing although I do think it's owing to different reasons:

1)  Many of the judges are boxing judges (Adelaide Bird, for example) and don't have proficient understanding of MMA;

2) There are just three rounds so it can require only one round to be 'incorrectly' scored for the whole fight to be 'won' by the 'wrong' fighter

3) There are so many aspects to MMA that it's incredibly difficult to score.  e.g. is taking someone down worth more than kicking someone hard?  Is almost submitting someone a plus for the fighter applying the submission or to the opponent who had good submission defence, etc

4) The scoring system is just wrong, it's just boxing's system.  It works ok for boxing but there needs to be much more discrepancy than 1 10-9 or maybe a 10-8.  If you keep the 10 point must system then there should there should be more 10-6; 10-7; 10-8; and 10-10s.  At present, a fighter can just win two rounds, lose the 3rd round comprehensively but then win the fight 29-28 despite clearly being the 'loser' over the course of the fight.

5) I don't think there's any fixing whatsoever.  The UFC 'own' all of the fighters and so it's not as big a deal as in boxing when it's one promotional company's fighter against another's.

Bisping is an underrated fighter but he's going to struggle with the elite.  He's been comprehensively beaten only once and that was to an excellent fighter in Dan Henderson.  I think Anderson Silva is the only fighter Bisping has next to no chance of beating, not that I'm saying Bisping would beat Sonnen, Okami, Marquardt, W Silva, Maia or Belfort but I think he'd have a decent chance against all of them.

thought penn won the fight myself.

Went mental when bisping shut the mouth of the gutless rivera.

See absolutley no reason why bisping would have a cardio problem biscar???!!!! Id say his cardio is one of the best in the ufc,glad he is slowly starting to quiet some of his critics,would love to see him fight sonnen in england,id pay anything to see mike put a beating on the tw@t for 3 rounds.

Why would you say Rivera is gutless? Seems a bit of a tool, but as TP said he had an easy way out of the fight but chose to continue.

@mehmet j mook... i can't see how bisping would give sonnen a beating for 3 rounds. at all.

Agreed almost as good as 116.

Just for those interested... there's a good lad posting his thoughts over on thebettingboards .com ,  worth a read.

imo Bisping expends too much energy before the fight getting pumped up and then again during the fight with his non stop style.

Not questioning his training regime or his work ethic,I just believe he isn't doing himself any favours.

ive never ever seen him gas though.

As ive said a few times,mike is very very hard to hold down and i think thats the only way sonnen wins if he gets him down and keeps him there,the only time bisping has been taking down and kept there for any significant time is when he was at LHW against bigger top class wrestlers like hammill and rashad. Im not saying out daft like bisping would beat silva or become a unbeatable champion i just dont rate sonnen that much and wish he would go sit in maia or andersons triangle till it closed his stupid garbage mouth.

I say Riviera is gutless cos i think he gives up in quite alot of his fights once he gets hit