Here are 5 things we learned at UFC 204: Bisping vs. Henderson 2

Michael Bisping retained his title Saturday night, avenging a seven-year-old loss to heavy-hitting UFC legend Dan Henderson to cap off the UFC 204 main event. Let’s take a look at five things we learned from the exciting fight card.

Leon Edwards is a top prospect

Leon Edwards entered his matchup against 14th-ranked Albert Tumenov as an underdog but left ready to tackle the rest of the welterweight top 15. Tumenov was one of the division’s brightest prospects, having won five of last six before Saturday’s fight with Edwards. “Rocky” was able to survive Tumenov’s power and intensity on the feet and dominated with some pretty nifty ground work before submitting “Einstein” in the third round.

Edwards has now won four of his last five and, at just 25 years old, is emerging as a premiere prospect in the welterweight division.

Iuri Alcantara’s BJJ is for real

Iuri Alcantara’s last fight saw bantamweight prospect Jimmie Rivera put him on his butt and control the bout en route to a unanimous decision. The same thing also happened when he faced Frankie Saenz, leading some to question his abilities on the ground. So what did Alcantara do? Show off just how sick his ground game is in an incredible first-round submission of Brad Pickett at UFC 204.

The sequence above is simply awesome, and Alcantara clearly knows what he’s doing in there as he scored a big win over the hometown fighter.

Jimi Manuwa is a contender

In taking out fifth-ranked former title challenger Ovince Saint Preux in impressive fashion Saturday night, Jimi Manuwa proved that he’s a legit contender in the light heavyweight division. The win marked Manuwa’s 14th career win by KO/TKO and his only losses inside the Octagon have come against top contenders Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson. He shouldn’t have any problem jumping over the three guys ranked ahead of him -- Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua, and OSP -- to crack the top five and standing banging with the best the division has to offer.

Gegard Mousasi might have the best striking in the middleweight division

The middleweight division is chock-full of talent in the top 5, and tonight, Gegard Mousasi proved he deserves to be included in that conversation. At UFC 204 on Saturday, Mousasi took the fight to Vitor Belfort over seven minutes en route to a second-round TKO victory. The finishing blows came midway through the second round, when Mousasi unleashed a sick, seemingly never-ending video-game combo on Belfort that left him out on his feet.

The win was a big statement for Mousasi, who proved tonight that he’s a threat to any and every fighter standing in front of him in the middleweight rankings.

Michael Bisping is a bold man

A lot of people, including myself, snickered when Bisping said that he wanted to fight 46-year-old Dan Henderson. “Hendo” entered Saturday’s fight ranked outside of the top 10 and had only won three of his last nine fights. It appeared to be an easy win for the Brit, who is nine years younger than the challenger. Then the bout started, Henderson dropped Bisping with his big right hand, and I remembered, ‘Oh yeah, this is fist fighting.’

Henderson would go on to drop Bisping again in the second, and land that right hand several more times throughout the fight. Bisping, wearing all the destruction on his face for the world to see, just kept taking it while returning the favor with quick combinations as he dragged the former PRIDE titleholder into championship rounds.

Bisping got the win, but this was a beating he didn’t need to take. The fact that he chose to is pretty ballsy.