Before former UFC champions Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier call the action at UFC 312 on Saturday, they had quite the discussion about wrestling in MMA.
During the UFC 312 weigh-in show, the panel — which included Bisping, Cormier, and former featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski — was asked about which weapon they would prefer to use in a fight; Zhang Weili’s “precision striking,” or Tatiana Suarez’s “wrestling and grappling” ahead of their co-main event championship fight in Sydney. Bisping said the latter “all day,” and Volkanovski agreed, while Cormier was on the other side of things.
“You guys are out of your minds if you think you don’t have to learn to wrestle offensively to defend takedowns,” Cormier said. “You’re crazy. If you start just learning takedown defense, you’re screwed.”
Bisping and Volkanovski disagreed, with Bisping outright telling Cormier he’s “wrong.”
“Cage wrestling, wrestling in a mixed martial arts fight against the fence, is nothing like actual wrestling on a mat,” Bisping said.
“[My son] Callum is a way better wrestler than me. I will pick him up and slam him on his ass. And I’ve done it, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, but that’s that bullshit in a cage.’ Real wrestlers suck balls [in a cage]. You bring any of those guys in a cage, unless they learn how to do it in a cage, I will 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 lot of the greener wrestlers-turned-MMA fighters focus too much on double leg takedowns, and that the game has evolved where most fighters can defend that technique. He then pointed as Bisping and declared that the former middleweight champion can’t defend a single leg, to which “The Count” objected.
“You put me up against the fence, DC, you could not take me down with a single leg — even with my bad hip and my bad neck,” Bisping said.
Jon Anik did his best to maintain order and move the segment on, but he may have his hands full again on Saturday if the conversation comes up
