Michael Bisping: Yushin Okami's loss to Ovince Saint Preux was 'absolutely amateurish'

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping was not impressed with Yushin Okami’s performance in the longtime divisional contender’s return to the octagon at UFC Fight Night 117.

Coming into the fight on short-notice and moving up to light heavyweight for the first time, Okami (34-11 MMA, 13-6 UFC) suffered a first-round submission loss to Ovince Saint Preux (21-10 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in Friday’s UFC Fight Night 117 headliner, which took place at Saitama Super Arena in Japan and aired on FXX.

The finish came courtesy of the rarely seen Von Flue choke, which has only happened five times in UFC history. Saint Preux, however, is owner of three of those five finishes, and for that reason Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) is befuddled that Okami would succumb to the move less than two minutes into the fight and let his thoughts be known during his analysis on post-fight show.

“If you are Yushin Okami, and you watch any footage of Ovince Saint Preux, if you’ve seen his last fight, he got the Von Flue,” Bisping said. “He’s had it before. What do you try to do? Rule 101, you don’t try to guillotine him from side control on your back. And he did that. … It was just crazy that he even did that. But I’m sorry, Yushin Okami, I have a lot of respect for you, but it was madness. It was absolutely amateurish. Shut the door on your way out.”

Bisping later said he believes Okami should get another crack in the octagon after doing the promotion a solid and stepping up for the injured “Shogun” Rua on less than one weeks’ notice. It was Okami’s return to the organization after more than four years away, and the result was the first submission defeat of his career. He will likely return to the middleweight division, though, where he holds the fourth most wins in UFC history.

Okami shot for a takedown in the opening seconds of the fight with Saint Preux. It was denied, and moments later he was on his back. Instead of being weary of one of Saint Preux’s go-to maneuvers, Okami put himself in the best possible position to get put away.

Bisping simply doesn’t understand how that happened, even with all the various disadvantages for the Japanese fighter going into the bout.

“Okami obviously didn’t watch any tape whatsoever,” Bisping said. “If he did, he would have known not to grab the head. … It’s an amateur move. It’s a stalling measure. There’s no submission for Okami on his back there. If you’re grabbing from there, you’re just trying to hold on. It was a terrible, terrible decision for Okami.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 117, check out the UFC Events section of the site.