Middleweight champion Michael Bisping successfully defended his title for the first time at UFC 204 on Oct. 8 against Dan Henderson. After being knocked down in each of the first two rounds, Bisping mounted a comeback and won the fight via unanimous decision, but not everyone agreed with the judges’ scorecards.
Middleweight Tim Kennedy was one of the people who disagreed.
“I had it a draw,” Kennedy said during an appearance on UFC Unfiltered.
Henderson nearly finished Bisping in the opening frame, but was unable to put “The Count” away. Kennedy scored the first round 10-8 for “Hendo.”
“I had the first round as a 10-8, and then I was pretty similar with the judges, except for that first round. I don’t think they give out 10-8’s enough,” he said. “When you put a guy on the ground like that, and he is saved by the bell when you’re a punch away from finishing him, that’s a 10-8 round to me.”
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Kennedy admittedly doesn’t like Bisping. He holds a unanimous decision win over the champion from 2014, but scored Bisping winning the closely contested fifth round of the UFC 204 main event.
“I either had it as a draw – that fifth round was so close. I hate having to give anything to Michael Bisping, but as the champion, because it was so close, I would give it to him,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy returns to action for the first time since September 2014 against former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans at UFC 205. It will be Evans’ middleweight debut.
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