London: Britain’s Michael Bisping made his first successful defence of the UFC middleweight title in Manchester in the early hours of Sunday morning.
In a thrilling encounter, Bisping recovered from being knocked down in the opening round to win a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards.
It means Bisping avenges his defeat to American Henderson at UFC 100 and also becomes UFC’s holder of the most victories.
The fight sold out in six minutes, despite it not starting until 04:45 local time to tie in with a large American television audience.
Following the fight, Henderson retired – as he stated he would before the bout – while Bisping lavished praise on his opponent and called out some of his other rivals in the division.
There were wins for Mousasi, Manuwa and Struve on the undercard.
