(Photos: UFC.com/Sherdog.com)

 What do James Irvin, Rich Clementi and Michael Bisping have in common?  Not much … except for the fact that all 3 fighters are getting a chance to turn wins into increased opportunity with quick turnaround between fights.  Bispng is the latest fighter to get the quick call back, likely in an effort to build out the UFC 85 card which took a big hit with the departure of Chuck Liddell due to a hamstring injury.  Irvin was the fighter who actually stepped up to fill Chuck’s spot, but lacking star lustre, the UFC seems to be opting for their default British star, Michael “The Count” Bisping to pack in the fans for the recently shuffled UFC 85 card schedule for June 7th in London, England.

Bisping will be in for a bigger test in his sophomore effort at 185lbs, stepping into the Octagon with the very heavy handed, Chris “The Crippler” Leben in front of a home town crowd.  Bisping has made the physical transformation , dropping a weight class to maximize his potential in as an Elite MMA fighter while Leben has made lifestyle and mental changes to improve his game.  After dropping back to back fights against Canadians, Jason MacDonald and the now notorious Kalib Starnes, Leben has found new focus and has reaped the rewards with big wins over Terry Martin and Alessio Sakara. 

It will be interesting to see what game-plan Bisping brings to the fight.  Although Leben has shown constant improvement he is likely still  less well rounded than Bisping, but is the advantage enough to outweigh the killer power that Leben wields?  My betting money would say that Bisping won’t be able to take many lefts from Leben, so he will need to take “The Crippler” down early and try to work his Jiu Jitsu for a win.  With an 8-3 record in the UFC, Leben is certainly no joke and he is a decent step up for Bisping’s second Middleweight fight. 

It’s another day at the office for Bisping as the UFC’s British “poster boy” for the organization, stepping up to sell the sport of MMA to the British masses.  It’s not an easy fight to call, and Bisping looked good in his last fight against an outmatched Charles McCarthy in his last outing.  It really will depend on who can take the fight to their strength position and execute their game-plan. 

   (Photo:Sherdog.com)

MMAWeekly has reported that Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy  has officially announced his retirement from fighting.  The report comes only days after McCarthy lost in a blowout match against Michael “The Count” Bisping at UFC 83 in Montreal, Quebec.
There had been a lot of tension built between the two fighters leading up to the bout and McCarthy had gone as far as calling Bisping average and even stating that he felt he was the best BJJ talent in the division and felt he would be a good match for current Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

While there was a lot of chatter from McCarthy pre UFC 83, his statements around his retirement were entirely professional and likely a more accurate representation of his true personality,

“Thank you to all who have supported Mixed Martial Arts. You have helped me live out a childhood dream of being a professional athlete. I am proud to say that in some small way I helped to grow our great sport and entertain fans across the world. Some of the best friends I have made throughout my career I met on the other side of the cage. I would like to thank them for the opportunity to compete with them and entertain the fans.”
“We train so hard and we put so much time into it. I figure I’ve worked since November to do this and there’s so many other things going on in my life that I put on the back burner since November. You know, at the end of the day, that paycheck that used to be enough, isn’t enough anymore”

It is a big step for any professional athlete to announce their retirement from the sport and I will give the respect to McCarthy for making the move before being moved out of the UFC and trying to rebuild a career in smaller organizations. Going out with a blowout loss is even more difficult and many fighters would have tried to set up a win to at least go out on top, but apparently McCarthy is living by his statement that training fighters is his priority right now.

McCarthy will continue to be heavily involved in MMA and working to build future stars though his American Top Team  affiliated gym.   

Check out the entire MMAWeekly post here.

 (Photo:Sherdog.com)

Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping, winner of The Ultimate Fighter (Season 3) reality series on SpikeTV has become somewhat enraged by comments his next opponent, Charles McCarthy has made to the British press recently.  Granted this seems to happen before every fight.  Bisping has been penning a blog that appears on the UFC site prior to each of his last 3 bouts and typically they are used to respond to comments that his opponents have made that rub him the wrong way.  It’s not to say that Bisping is blowing things out of proportion, but it is probably fair to call it a good mix of hype and genuine anger finding a way out through a portal to the online MMA community.

In this instance, Charles ‘Chainsaw’ McCarthy was perhaps a bit bold in his media statements, basically calling Bisping a less than impressive fighter that has been overrated for the financial benefit of the UFC’;s expansion in the British market.   Here are a few of McCarthy’s comments in recent interviews as presented through Bisping’s blog.

•  ”I loved this fight when it was offered it to me. I really don’t think Bisping is anything at all, I don’t see anything he does well. He’s very, very average.
• “I’m just not impressed or excited by anything he does. His wrestling isn’t good, his striking isn’t good, his BJJ isn’t good - he’s just an average fighter with a big name because the UFC is in England. I think he’s probably the most average fighter in the whole UFC who has a big name.

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