UFC Tonight Quotes – Bisping: Barnett Needs To Push The Pace Vs. Nelson

LOS ANGELES – UFC TONIGHT host Kenny Florian and guest host Michael Bisping break down the upcoming FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT: BARNETT VS. NELSON. Karyn Bryant and Ariel Helwani add reports.

UFC TONIGHT guest host Michael Bisping on how Josh Barnett can beat Roy Nelson: “Josh needs to not get hit by the right hand of Roy. He needs to push the pace of the fight, move forward, and push Roy up against fence and brutalize him with knees and elbows like he did with Frank Mir. Most of his finishes came from the clinch position. He finishes fights against the fence. He did that against Frank Mir.”

UFC TONIGHT host Kenny Florian on Barnett avoiding Nelson’s knock out power: “Josh doesn’t want to be on the outside where Roy’s right hand can get him. He wants to be on the inside. He’s been busy on the submission circuit. He’s dangerous on the mat and that’s where he wants to get Roy.”

Bisping on how Nelson should fight Barnett: “What Roy can’t get is predictable. If he just tries to throw the big right hand, Barnett is going to see it coming. Roy has to mix up his striking. I’m not sure he’s going to go for takedowns. But he has to mix his striking. His right hand and left hooks, to keep Josh at bay.”

Florian on Nelson mixing up his strikes: “The knock on Nelson is his lack of evolution. He’s got to keep the right hand masked. All it takes is one strike from him to end the fight.”

Bisping on if Uriah Hall can beat Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event: “He has all the talent and all the tools to win, but he has struggled in his fights. He’s kind of flashy, but needs to prove it and be better against Gegard, a top-10 guy. He has to bring his A-game. I believe Gegard will take him down and expose his weakness, which is grappling, and get him in one of those crafty submissions.”

Florian on Hall’s lack of experience: “You can’t question Uriah Hall’s talent. He’s a dynamic striker, but he needs to utilize his full arsenal and be a better striker against Mousasi. Does he have it mentally to do it against someone more experienced? Mousasi is a very good offensive wrestler and has a great submission game. Uriah is too dangerous to just stand and trade with.”

VIDEO Bisping’s UFC Fight Night Predictions: http://www.foxsports.com/video/UFC?vid=531199043546

Bisping on Anthony Pettis moving down to featherweight to fight Conor McGregor: “That would be a dream matchup – both are great strikers. But it’s kind of curious that McGregor is talking about going up to lightweight, with Pettis talking about going down to featherweight.”                                                            

Florian comments on UFC president Dana White saying that former welterweight champion George St-Pierre wouldn’t fight again: “We had the conversation about a year and I said he will come back but he’s been away too long now. He’s got too many things going on. He’s doing movies. He’s rich. Dana knows something. He’s talking to the guy.”

Bisping & Florian’s top 5 UFC fighters that came from Pride:

5. Takanori Gomi (former lightweight & grand prix champion)

4. Rampage Jackson (2003 MW grand prix runner-up)

3. Shogun Rua (2005 MW grand prix champion)

2. Mirko Cro Cop (2006 open-weight grand prix champion)

1. Dan Henderson (Pride middleweight & welterweight champion)

VIDEO TOP 5 UFC FIGHTERS FROM PRIDE: http://www.foxsports.com/video/UFC?vid=531184195725

Bisping predictions for this weekend’s co-main bout between No. 6 Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall: “Mousasi is too experienced. He’s too crafty. He knows every trick under the sun and I’m telling you he’s going to take it to Uriah. I think he wins by submission.”

UFC TONIGHT Insider Ariel Helwani on UFC Champion Demetrious Johnson’s next fight: “He told me that he wants to return to action Super Bowl weekend, 2016 in Las Vegas. He wants to fight in Las Vegas because he calls that the fight capital of the world. He wants to fight in the MGM Grand Garden arena because he’s had a lot of success there and that’s where Champions fight.”

Helwani on heavyweights Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski: “I spoke to Frank Mir’s head coach who told me that they want an immediate rematch against Frank Mir. They even told this to the UFC and he told me that the UFC’s actually somewhat receptive to this idea.”

Helwani reports that Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson had surgery on his left knee: “A little under three weeks ago, Wonderboy had surgery on his left knee. He had his knee scoped and also had a meniscus tear repaired. Now what happened was, after he landed that second spinning heel hook against Jake Ellenberger in July, he actually bruised his heel and as he was walking afterwards, he started to over compensate and re-injured the left knee that he had surgery on after UFC 145.”

Helwani reported that No. 5 ranked Lyoto Machida wants to fight guest host Michael Bisping. Bisping’s response: “He wants to punch me in the face as hard as he can. I don’t mind it. We’re all professionals and that’s what we’re here to do. To be honest, I thought Machida came back too quick after that devasting loss to Luke Rockhold…I’ve got a lot of respect for Lyoto Machida.”  

VIDEO: Inside The Octagon with Ariel Helwani: http://www.foxsports.com/video/UFC?vid=531193411601