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Since his defeat of Anderson Silva and KO of Luke Rockhold in the post-USADA era, people around here have for the most part accepted that Bisping would have had a brighter career had these changes been implemented sooner. Michael is well past his physical prime and in fact is a middle aged man now. So how would a prime Bisping have done if these new measures had always been in place?
3 years into his career, Bisping, a natural MW, faced Rashad Evans and was more than good enough to keep up with him. Rashad at this point was only 1 year away from the apex of his career when he KO'd Liddell and KO'd Griffin to win the LHW title. Considering the dominant fashion of Rashad's wins, it is quite likely that he was already the best LHW in the world at this point. Despite these odds, Bisping took him to a split decision.
Based on this I think it is likely that had USADA already been in place, Bisping would have gone undefeated at LHW and become the LHW champion. At this point Anderson was MW champion, who we know Bisping defeated, so I'd say starting around 2007 he was the best in the world at two weight classes.
Bisping then moved to MW, and not surprisingly he utterly destroyed his opponents, TKOing two in the first round. He then fought and defeated top contender Chris Leben, who would test positive after their fight despite there being no random testing. Bisping then lost to Hendo, but as we all know Hendo had been on TRT for years now and had an unfair advantage. Bisping then brutally TKO'd Dennis Kang, and was matched with LHW ATG Wanderlei Silva. Silva too is a know PED user, as he ran from a random USADA test and later admitted to taking PEDs. Bisping was winning a close decision until Silva got a flash knockdown in the last 10 seconds and narrowly dodged defeat.
At this point it is 2010 and there is still no clear indication that Bisping is no longer the best at MW or LHW. Especially considering had just narrowly lost a decision to a PED-using LHW ATG. The LHW champion at this point was Shogun, who was very similar to his teammate Wanderlei in that they were both Chute Boxe strikers and LHW champions, known for having legendary gym wars. Bisping's performance against pre-USADA Wanderlei definitely raised his stock.
Bisping then smashes his next four opponents, including brutal finishes of Rivera and Miller, before losing a controversial decision to #1 ranked and known PED user Chael Sonnen, who himself believed that Bisping won the fight. Bisping then defeated Brian Stann before being KO'd by TRTor Belfort, who has seen a dramatic drop in performance post-USADA. This KO born out of deception and cheating, permanently disfigured Michael, destroying his retina and causing it to fill with fluids. At this point, Jon Jones had become LHW champion, but as we know Jones was unable to pass the tests in the post-USADA era so is not relevant to the current discussion.
Bisping then brutalizes Alan Belcher, drops a close decision to Tim "beefcake" Kennedy, and utterly destroys Cung Le, all despite his damaged eye which has required continued medical treatment. At this point two important developments have occurred. 1, Anderson Silva lost to Chris Weidman, and 2, Jon Jones had a razor thin hard fought decision against Gus. However, Weidman lost to Rockhold after USADA had come into place, so we can tenatively use a bit of MMAth to suggest the hierarchy of Bisping > Rockhold > Weidman in post-USADA MW. As for LHW, we really have no way of knowing how Bisping would do against the new wave of top LHWs such as DC and Gus. I am inclined to believe their youth and size would be too much for him to overcome, so to be conservative we can say that around late 2013 Bisping was no longer the best at LHW.
TL;DR: Therefore my reconstructed USADA-prime-Bisping career is: LHW #1 2007-2013, MW #1 2007-present.
BisKing Bless.
3 years into his career, Bisping, a natural MW, faced Rashad Evans and was more than good enough to keep up with him. Rashad at this point was only 1 year away from the apex of his career when he KO'd Liddell and KO'd Griffin to win the LHW title. Considering the dominant fashion of Rashad's wins, it is quite likely that he was already the best LHW in the world at this point. Despite these odds, Bisping took him to a split decision.
Based on this I think it is likely that had USADA already been in place, Bisping would have gone undefeated at LHW and become the LHW champion. At this point Anderson was MW champion, who we know Bisping defeated, so I'd say starting around 2007 he was the best in the world at two weight classes.
Bisping then moved to MW, and not surprisingly he utterly destroyed his opponents, TKOing two in the first round. He then fought and defeated top contender Chris Leben, who would test positive after their fight despite there being no random testing. Bisping then lost to Hendo, but as we all know Hendo had been on TRT for years now and had an unfair advantage. Bisping then brutally TKO'd Dennis Kang, and was matched with LHW ATG Wanderlei Silva. Silva too is a know PED user, as he ran from a random USADA test and later admitted to taking PEDs. Bisping was winning a close decision until Silva got a flash knockdown in the last 10 seconds and narrowly dodged defeat.
At this point it is 2010 and there is still no clear indication that Bisping is no longer the best at MW or LHW. Especially considering had just narrowly lost a decision to a PED-using LHW ATG. The LHW champion at this point was Shogun, who was very similar to his teammate Wanderlei in that they were both Chute Boxe strikers and LHW champions, known for having legendary gym wars. Bisping's performance against pre-USADA Wanderlei definitely raised his stock.
Bisping then smashes his next four opponents, including brutal finishes of Rivera and Miller, before losing a controversial decision to #1 ranked and known PED user Chael Sonnen, who himself believed that Bisping won the fight. Bisping then defeated Brian Stann before being KO'd by TRTor Belfort, who has seen a dramatic drop in performance post-USADA. This KO born out of deception and cheating, permanently disfigured Michael, destroying his retina and causing it to fill with fluids. At this point, Jon Jones had become LHW champion, but as we know Jones was unable to pass the tests in the post-USADA era so is not relevant to the current discussion.
Bisping then brutalizes Alan Belcher, drops a close decision to Tim "beefcake" Kennedy, and utterly destroys Cung Le, all despite his damaged eye which has required continued medical treatment. At this point two important developments have occurred. 1, Anderson Silva lost to Chris Weidman, and 2, Jon Jones had a razor thin hard fought decision against Gus. However, Weidman lost to Rockhold after USADA had come into place, so we can tenatively use a bit of MMAth to suggest the hierarchy of Bisping > Rockhold > Weidman in post-USADA MW. As for LHW, we really have no way of knowing how Bisping would do against the new wave of top LHWs such as DC and Gus. I am inclined to believe their youth and size would be too much for him to overcome, so to be conservative we can say that around late 2013 Bisping was no longer the best at LHW.
TL;DR: Therefore my reconstructed USADA-prime-Bisping career is: LHW #1 2007-2013, MW #1 2007-present.
BisKing Bless.
Bisping GOAT
