At UFC 89, Michael "The Count" Bisping claimed victory over Chris "The Crippler" Leben in his native land of England via a unanimous decision. Both fighters entered the octagon completely focused on their gameplan as they participated in their first-ever main event bout for a UFC fight card.
Bisping set the pace throughout the entire fight as he looked a lot quicker on his feet than Leben and his strikes were just more accurate. Although Leben was caught with punches to the face and various kicks to the body and legs, the hard-chinned Crippler would just not give up. Nonetheless, Bisping never looked to be in any serious trouble in all three rounds which made him a clear main event winner.
Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine was able to sneak in a very close split decision win over Brandon "The Truth" Vera as well. Vera loses his first UFC match as a light heavyweight contender while Jardine picks up a huge win after having lost to Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva back in May at UFC 84: Ill Will. Jardine seems to jump right back into a path toward the 205-pound title. As for Vera, he’s going to have to get past this loss and readjust a few of his strategies if he still wants to continue brawling with this competitive division.
Here are the complete UFC 89: ‘Bisping vs. Leben’ results:
- Michael Bisping defeats Chris Leben via a unanimous decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Keith Jardine defeats Brandon Vera via a split decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Luiz Cane defeats Rameau Sokoudjou via a TKO at 4:15 in the 2nd round
- Chris Lytle defeats Chris Lytle via a unanimous decision win at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Marcus Davis defeats Paul Kelly via a guillotine choke submission at 2:16 in the 2nd round
- Dan Hardy defeats Akihiro Gono via a split decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Shane Carwin defeats Neil Wain via TKO at 1:31 in the 1st round
- David Bielkheden defeats Jess Liaudin via a unanimous decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Terry Etim defeats Sam Stout via a unanimous decision at 5:00 in the 3rd round
- Jim Miller defeats David Baron via a rear-naked choke submission at 3:19 in the 3rd round
- Per Eklund defeats Samy Schiavo via a rear-naked choke submission at 1:47 in the 3rd round
