UFC 204's Bisping-Henderson main event makes sense for fans, not rankings

(This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY.)

If you’re a stickler for stats and rankings, the UFC 204 headliner might not appear to make much sense.

Some time around sunrise Sunday morning in Manchester, England, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title – not against the top-ranked contender in his division, or even against anyone from the top five.

Instead, Bisping’s first fight as champ will come against 46-year-old Dan Henderson, an old rival who has won just two of his past five bouts and is currently ranked No. 14 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings.

The explanation is simple: This is the fight the UFC put together in large part because, due to the acrimonious history between Bisping (29-7 MMA, 19-7 UFC) and Henderson (32-14 MMA, 9-8 UFC), it’s the fight fans will pay for. And as recent events in the sport have proven, pay-per-view sales aren’t necessarily determined by rankings or logic.

“I think what we’re seeing is a trend, and it’s really in the wake of (UFC featherweight champion) Conor McGregor,” says retired fighter and current FOX Sports and UFC commentator Brian Stann. “He’s opened a lot of people’s eyes.”

McGregor seized the UFC’s 145-pound title this past December, but has spent the intervening months exclusively picking fights outside his own division. Back-to-back non-title welterweight bouts with perennial fan favorite Nate Diaz are believed to have sold more than three million pay-per-views combined, which is especially impressive considering that from the standpoint of rankings and titles, both fights were essentially meaningless.

This lesson has not been lost on the UFC, which recently brought in former professional wrestler Phil “CM Punk” Brooks, who proved to be a powerful draw in his first and so far only fight, despite a dismal performance and a complete lack of MMA experience.

It’s also made an impression on McGregor’s fellow fighters, like new UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. He made waves when, immediately after winning the title, he declared himself to be far more interested in “money fights” than in taking on the division’s top contenders.

“This is a sport where we can make cash now, instead of just saying, ‘This person deserves it; he worked his way through the ranks,'” Woodley said in July.

After his own title win, Bisping pounced on talk of a potential fight against former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who was at one time crowned the “king of pay-per-view” by UFC President Dana White. When the UFC instead offered him a rematch against Henderson, who knocked Bisping out in brutal fashion in 2009, it was an easy decision, according to Bisping’s manager, Audie Attar of Paradigm Sports Management.

“Of course Mike was all for it,” Attar says. “And the reason you don’t see an uproar from fans is because, rankings aside, fans want to see it. People want entertainment. That comes from the athletic competition side of things, but it also comes from personality and stories.”

The question now is how the recent change in UFC ownership will affect this trend. A group led by talent and sports agency WME-IMG bought the company for $4 billion in July, leading to widespread speculation within the industry that the immediate focus will be on maximizing profits to justify the enormous price tag. (The UFC declined requests for an interview for this story.)

But if the company focuses too heavily on the marketability of its matchups, it risks further angering fighters like interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who was so upset at being passed over for a shot at McGregor’s title that he recently demanded to be released from his UFC contract.

To someone like Stann, who fought most of his career in an era when quietly climbing the ranks one bout at a time was the norm, the current shift is bittersweet. He admits to wishing he’d picked some “money fights” for himself in his fighting days, and so far this new approach has resulted in several matchups he’s enjoyed as a fan and a commentator.

“But I don’t think it can last forever,” Stann says. “The fans – I think they’ll only have a stomach for it to a certain extent.”

For more on UFC 204, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.