Michael Bisping pieced together punches, kicks and knees in volume at UFC Fight Night 48 to wear down Cung Le in a competitive bout before a knee to the chin finally delivered the TKO finish early in the fourth round.
Round One
The main event is underway. Bisping feeling out the jab and Le with a kick to the midsection. Le comes in fast with a hard leg kick. Punches exchanged and Le lands another body kick.
Bisping with a leg kick of his own. Le with a body kick and Bisping catches him with a punch at the same time. Body punch from Le made an impact.
Bisping moves forward and delivers a high spinning kick, taking a leaf out of Le’s playbook, but it doesn’t land with authority.
Leg kick for Le and then tries to go upstairs. Bisping tries a high kick himself. Bisping times a nice counter as Le comes in. The two men are exchanging in close in this first round.
Short combination of punches from Bisping in close with a minute to go. Le lands a kick to the groin, but Bisping recovers quickly and they get back to it.
Nice kick from Bisping and then a nice combination of punches followed by a leg kick that backs up Le. Le lands a right hook to the chin that Bisping definitely felt, but he’s ok and connects with a hook of his own as a competitive round comes to a close.
Round Two:
Bisping with a series of punches to start. Side kick from Le. Another kick from Le, but this time it’s caught by Bisping. Bisping pressing forward aggressively and a punch may have grazed Le’s eye. It appears not to have been an eye poke though and the ref doesn’t stop the fight, so Bisping presses forward with kicks and punches.
Le’s bleeding heavily from his eye and his nose and has pretty much abandoned offense for now as Bisping continues to pour on the pressure with flurries of punches and kicks.
Le’s face is a mask of blood so there’s a doctor’s stoppage, but Le’s ok to continue. On the restart Bisping is right back to pushing the pace, mixing in knees nicely to his offensive output.
Bisping gets caught with a right hook and that gives him pause for thought. Le’s still dangerous and to prove it he lands a hard body kick too. The fight’s getting competitive again now with Le finding his second wind despite still being streaked in blood. A side kick from Le lands to the groin and forces a stoppage.
Back to it they go. Le on the attack with his kicks looking dangerous. Bisping manages to stay out of range as Le attempts one of his trademark spinning kicks to the body.
30 seconds to go and the crowd cheers le on, but there’s a bit of a lull in the action before Bisping starts to put together a combination in the final 10 seconds.
Le goes back to his corner and there’s very heavy, dark swelling under both of his eyes. He’s really busted up!
Round Three:
Bisping with a high side kick to start, but it comes up short. Le with a body kick and Bisping counters with a kick upstairs. Le just misses with a right hook.
Exchange in close and Bisping gets caught with a punch. Le with a spinning kick to the body, but Bisping takes it. Low leg kick from Bisping. Another one lands.
Le unleashes some kicks. Bisping leaps in with a left hook and a kick behind it. He feels out with the jab and then slams in a nice body kick. Wheel kick from le, but it just grazes Bisping’s arm.
Le covering up as Bisping lets a combination go including a nice uppercut. Bisping’s caught with a left hand due to an exchange, but the Brit then responds with rally of punches as Le covers up again.
Le digs in a good kick to the body. Bisping’s taken them well so far though. High kick from Bisping blocked, and a body kick from Le likewise. Six or seven punches in a row from Bisping – nothing especially hard, but a good work-rate nonetheless. He starts to land more but then Le counters with a harder blow that backs him off. Much more volume from Bisping, but Le’s strikes have got more behind them.
Bisping looks tired as the round ends, putting his hands on his knees, but there’s two rounds still to go.
Round Four:
Body kick from Le and Bisping returns fire. Nice right hand and a body kick from Bisping during a nice combination. He works Le back towards the cage and turns up the pressure with hard punches to the body and then the head, even landing a glancing blow to the head with a kick.
He reaches for the thai clinches and bangs a knee up the middle, connecting to Le’s head and it sends him crashing to the mat! Bisping lands a few more strikes to his grounded opponent and that’s it, the referee takes pity on Le and ends the fight, handing Bisping the TKO victory at 0.57mins of round four.
