• UFC 120

Bisping under pressure to send fans home happy

Michael Bisping always pumps the crowd up © UFC

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Michael Bisping admits he feels under pressure to perform in front of his home fans against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 120, because he does not want them leaving the O2 Arena on a low note.

Bisping is used to being the main event on UK territory, and he is yet to lose a UFC bout in front of his own fans. He has had one or two close shaves over the years, snatching a tight decision from Matt Hamill and recovering from a first-round knockdown to beat Denis Kang.

Dan Hardy, who also fights at UFC 120 against Carlos Condit, recently told ESPN that defeat on home turf would be the lowest moment of his or Bisping's career. And Bisping admits the home fans do play a part, but he uses the Kang fightback to prove it usually helps him to victory.

"When I fight in England, the crowd is fantastic and they get behind me, and that feels very special," said the middleweight. "I suppose maybe it does come into it a little bit. I always feel an extra incentive to perform and give the fans what they came to see.

"My last fight in Manchester against Denis Kang, I said I was going to be really aggressive, and go out with a knockout and all this. Somehow the first round I got knocked down and spent most of the round on my back. And when I went to my corner in between the rounds you can see on the tape I'm apologizing to the crowd, because that's not what I said I was going to do. And then I went out there the second round and took him out.

"I do feel a bit of pressure. I want them to go home happy. It's like if you go and watch your favourite football team and they lose, you go home feeling deflated. I don't want them to come see me, and pay out their hard-earned money to see a fight that I lose, and then they go home having a bad night. Also, I don't want to lose either."

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