The Nationalist Delusion: Michael Bisping

Every once in a while, I see something that makes me tilt my head, a la Scooby-Doo. A recent comment from Michael Bisping (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) I ran into on MMAJunkie popped my ears up a little bit.

It isn’t that Michael Bisping hates his upcoming opponent, Dan Henderson (24-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC, #5/#7 IWMMAR), who’s possibly the most vanilla, sedate human being I’ve ever met. It isn’t that Bisping feels overlooked, as he currently sits as a little more than a 2-to-1 underdog.

It’s that Bisping wants to make his unpopularity on the rankings board about his British-ness, commenting: “I don’t know what it is. Nobody rates me in the top 10. I think it’s because I’m from the U.K., and they don’t give me the credit. It baffles me.”

I’m not sure what baffles him. If it’s that nobody ranks him in the top ten, then he should remember that he hasn’t fought in ten months (which keeps him largely out of the consciousness of fans and commentators), and that his one fight in the last year was a less than impressive year over a very beatable Chris Leben (18-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC). He’s had a great career, but the issue with rankings is always “what have you done for us lately?” and if he thinks it’s a nationalist issue, then he may be the only one who bought this season’s TUF theme.

I like the nationalist theme going into bouts. There’s a part of me that enjoys the dynamics between different groups of Brazilian and Japanese fighters, but let’s be real, Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping has nothing to do with the U.S. vs. the U.K. Bisping may very well be the greatest representative of the British MMA scene in the UFC, but this isn’t M-1, it’s not about attempting to assess which country has better fighters on the basis of the outcome of a fight. As an American, I’d be comfortable staking a national reputation on Henderson, because establishing dominance as a country is always fun, but then I would I have to concede that Anderson Silva’s destruction of either Franklin or Henderson was about Brazil vs. the U.S.

British MMA is a big world, and it can’t live or die based on Michael Bisping. Whether bringing in James Wilks (6-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Ross Pearson (9-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) as the latest TUF winners will help give them a broader array of choices, and thus reduce the need to put the nation’s faith in Bisping. While it’s true that the British have never had as charismatic a representative in mainstream MMA, though I’d certainly be happy to argue that Ian Freeman (19-7-1 MMA, 3-2-1 UFC) was the best representative the British have had.

The point is, if Bisping wants to make himself the posterboy of British MMA, the British MMA fans need to decide whether they want the pride of their fanbase in an entire sport needs to leave or die by Michael Bisping (and they may die if Bisping does get smashed at UFC 100). While the American fanbase may have embraced Randy Couture (16-9 MMA, 13-6 UFC, #6 IWMMAR) as an emblem for all that American MMA was about, it wasn’t “Randy Couture vs. the World,” despite how a nickname like Captain America might make it sound.

I’ll be rooting for Dan Henderson at UFC 100, and it won’t be because I’m American, and it won’t be because Bisping’s British. It’ll be because I think Henderson’s more exciting and I think he’s a better fighter (and I want to see Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson II). Bisping can be as baffled as he wants by that, and he can continue to be baffled that he’s not in the top ten, or he can assure the he’s fighting on a regular basis and making a name for himself as a world class MMA fighter, and not simply the British MMA fighter. Save the chanting and the nationalism for the Olympics and the World Cup.

The Independent World MMA Rankings listed for Dan Henderson refer to his frankings in the middleweight and lightheavyweight divisions, respectively.