Issue 145

September 2016

Michael Bisping entered UFC 199 with retirement on his mind, but instead of hanging up his gloves, he began a new chapter in his career as the undisputed middleweight world champion.

After 10 years in the UFC, Michael Bisping could have been forgiven for thinking his time to wear championship gold had come and gone. Though he’d won season three of The Ultimate Fighter, the brash Brit had consistently stumbled at the final hurdle in his chase for a dream title fight. 

Chances came and went, and when his body started to give out in the last few years his legacy as a nearly man seemed destined to be written in stone. But what a difference six months can make. Anderson Silva slain, Luke Rockhold obliterated and now ‘The Count’ is king of the 185-pound division at last. And an entire nation rejoices.

In an exclusive interview with Fighters Only, Bisping reveals how he had considered calling time on his career had he lost to Rockhold at the Inglewood Forum in California, and even now, how he could actually bow out happy. “If I never fought again, I’d be exceptionally happy with my career and the way it turned out. I would have ended it on a four-fight win streak as well... But now I’m going nowhere.”

Don’t 'Count' me out

“I’m still getting used to being called a UFC champion,” beams Bisping, now the middleweight king. “It’s kind of weird. It’s been a lifetime’s work. It sounds fantastic. It still feels strange but it certainly feels good.”

Finally, after 10 long, hard years in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, there is a lightness of being that now envelops the fighting spirit of ‘The Count’. History made. The first British UFC champion.

If 2014 was the garrulous fighter’s annus horribilis – struck down by those dual afflictions of an injury to his right eye and two defeats that caused him to slide down the rankings – then 2016 has been the 35-year-old’s annus mirabilis. In the space of just over three months, the Englishman has a victory over Anderson Silva and the UFC middleweight gold belt pressed around his midriff.

Time was when Bisping craved that double success in one fight during Silva’s long reign. But with grit and determination in London against ‘The Spider’, and a dose of good fortune through a late call-up to challenge for the title held by Luke Rockhold, the standout British fighter in UFC history completed his career ambitions.

Nagging thoughts about retirement had been there, though. “That was something that was in the back of mind. I was in two minds. My wife wanted me to retire whether I won or lost. I toyed with the idea of retiring but I don’t want to retire on a loss. I want to retire on a win. 

“I’ve achieved the ultimate in the sport I have dedicated my life to. This for me is like getting a gold at the Olympics. It doesn’t get any bigger. Regardless of what the future holds, this can never be taken away from me,” Bisping explains. 

“I’m not a religious man, but it did feel like it was the universe putting it all together – the way it was happening, the timing, the location. Everything was just perfect. I don’t know whether I truly believed that or whether my mind was convincing me to believe that. Also, over the years, one or two things have happened where I do think everything has happened for a reason.”

My year

And there will be no walking away now. In fact, Bisping feels reinvigorated. “I do want to retire as champion, but I just have to defend the title. And I want to fight in the UK. If I could defend the belt three times and retire then that would do me.”

A huge dose of momentum was created going into the title shot against Rockhold. Beating Silva left Bisping brimming with confidence. Looking back on the fight, Bisping recalls: “If I’m honest, I didn’t see it being that close. I clearly won rounds one, two and four, and five was OK. But he had a couple of big moments – a front kick and a couple of good shots he landed. He had some significant moments in the fight but for the most part, I was in control.”

Nor, indeed, was Bisping ever fighting through a mental fog. “My face was completely covered in blood and (coach) Jason Parillo said he could just see two blue eyes coming through this sea of red. He looked in those eyes and knew I was fine and wasn’t giving up. I had to really, really dig deep and use up every ounce of what I had. A lot of people would have folded under that pressure. No way. Not in London. Not in that night. The fight was a war. I did have to go to levels that I didn’t even know I had.”

Deep emotions poured from Bisping after the Silva fight. “There was huge relief at the end of it. There was the emotion of knowing how long I had wanted that fight. All of those emotions came out.”

The confluence of events coming into the title challenge at UFC 199 in June stirred the spirit of Bisping. Just 17 days to prepare. No time to overthink it, for a start. “That was one of the key things – the fact I couldn’t overthink it and I couldn’t overtrain,” Bisping recalls. 

“I knew I always overtrained. In every single training camp, I end up doing it, pushing myself too hard, sneaking in an extra run or sprint session, having an extra sparring session. This time, I only had two and a bit weeks and only trained for a week and a half. And I knocked out one of the best in the world. Less is more sometimes.”

Having faced Rockhold before, Bisping was acutely aware there were openings. Holes in the champion’s game. “We watched him a lot. His right hand was always low. Whenever he threw a punch, it was low. The hand has to come back to your head to defend yourself. But Rockhold, as good as he is, has some very basic flaws,” Bisping states. 

“He doesn’t bring his hand back to his chin, he carries his right hand low, he carries his chin very high in the air – so it’s an easy target – and he was open to the left hook.”

The fact Bisping is a converted southpaw was a huge advantage. “Being left-handed but standing orthodox, my left hand has always been my power hand. The power I’m generating on my left hook these days has really skyrocketed. 

“I dropped Anderson with it a couple of times and that also gave me confidence. Jason thought I could catch him with the left hook. That was the plan. Of course, I landed it.”

Never in doubt

Bisping reflects on the day he sparred Rockhold away from the bright lights and the cameras. The fight nobody else saw. He says: “That fight went down exactly the way it did in the gym that day. He came into the gym and I made very easy work of him. I knew I could do that to him. I remember when Rockhold beat (Chris) Weidman the way that he did – that gave me a sense of hunger. I thought, ‘I f**king know I’m on his level.’”

Then, an extraordinary calmness surrounded him on the day of the fight. “I was the calmest I’ve ever been throughout my career. I talked about this leading into the Anderson fight and a little bit leading into this fight. How I’d worked hard and tried to control my emotions. I remember everything. 

“Typically, after a fight, because there’s so much adrenaline involved, you don’t remember much. You have to go away and watch it. This was a short-lived affair and I remember everything. I remember enjoying the moment, having a smile on my face and being happy to be there. 

“I was also very confident. I didn’t turn up just for a payday. I knew I could beat Luke. I just felt I had a bad night at the office in Australia. I always wanted redemption. Fortunately, I was able to get the job done.”

There were some ‘afters’ with Rockhold, too, of course. “I went over and shook his hand and said well done, you were a great champion,” explains Bisping, before adding in his typically ebullient way, “then I walked around the Octagon thanking the crowd in every direction. 

“By the end of it, I found myself going past Rockhold again. As I was walking past I went to reiterate my sentiment and I put my hand out to shake his hand and he said, ‘I’ve already shaken your hand’. I was like, ‘Oh really? Well, you’re an a**ehole then, aren’t you?’ That was when the verbal warfare started again, unfortunately. I wish that didn’t happen and I wish I could have risen above it. But he did fire the first shot.”

Deeply satisfying for Bisping, moreover, was silencing those who had mocked his ‘pillow fists’ for so long. “That gave me immeasurable satisfaction,” he explains. “The internal dialogue I’ve had with myself... I f**king told you a**eholes. All these years I knew I could punch. 

“I’ve knocked out plenty. I know the clean knockouts haven’t come in the UFC and I made some tactical changes early in my career because of the wrestlers I was facing. It’s hard to generate power when you’re stepping out of boxing range before the punch has even landed. 

“I was worried about being taken down because I lost a few key fights to wrestlers. That was subconsciously in there. I had to train very hard to overcome those bad habits. But I always knew I had the power and so did my coaches. Rockhold definitely knows I’ve got the power.”

Best of British

What Bisping’s victory also does is set up a much-needed legacy for mixed martial arts in the UK. In some respects, you could argue he had become a figurehead without an anchor. The title has rubber-stamped him as the most accomplished British fighter of all time. He was the first Brit to win TUF. Now he has gone to the next, next level.

“We’ve always wanted a UK champion and we finally have one now. I honestly believe I’ve had a positive impact on the sport. I think this will inspire some kids and other fighters to fulfill their dreams and their potential,” the 37-year-old says.

“Any time we have a champion in the country it helps elevate the sport. I believe this will help with that. Social media makes the world a small place. The outpouring of love going into the fight was insane. The support I had from the UK was great. I will never forget that. The constant messages and tweets and Facebook messages and Instagram messages were non-stop.

“People have always been kind and said I was the poster boy for MMA in the UK. But I was never overly comfortable with that because I was always embarrassed that as the UK’s flagship fighter, I wasn’t able to win a title. That was always a problem I had with that moniker. Here I am, supposed to be the UK number one, yet I can’t go out and win a title. 

“I’m not saying I feel comfortable being the poster boy these days, but I certainly feel like I can represent the UK to its fullest now. The UK always deserved that champion.”

As for the future, there are many options. Challengers in Weidman, Jacare Souza, Yoel Romero. Rematches with Silva and Dan Henderson or a trilogy encounter with Rockhold. The new champion, typically, is raring to get at them all.

“I am open to anything and everything, but a stadium fight would be incredible,” he says. “We’ll see what the UFC want to do. I’d love to fight in the UK later in the year regardless of where it is. Weidman can be as spiteful as he wants (on Twitter) but he needs to realize he was injured and pulled out of the fight. 

“He needs neck surgery. For all the negativity that he directs my way, I had nothing to do with his neck injury. He’s only got himself to blame. There’s plenty of fantastic talent out there and I’m sure between myself and the UFC we’ll pick the right person and give the UK what they want.”

A rematch with Silva interests Bisping perhaps most of all. “That would certainly be something,” he says with a grin. “You’d have to look at whether we can fill a huge arena. I think the demand in the UK would be there. The biggest crowd they’ve had in the UFC so far is 70,000 in Australia. It would be a tall order to better that, but I’m sure the UK fans could fulfill it.”

Bisping may have had his Everest moment. “I’m not sure it’s possible to have a better three months. That was two goals – life-long goals – I really wanted to achieve. Anderson is considered the greatest of all time. I always wanted to fight him and felt I matched up well. And I always wanted to be the champion. I’ve achieved both of things. Defending the title in the UK later in the year would be a dream come true.”

Bisping has certainly etched his place as a true pioneer. And proved any doubters wrong. “I’ve shaken off the stigma that I was a good fighter who always lost the big ones,” adds the champion. “I beat Anderson, I’ve got the gold, I will successfully defend this belt – mark my words. I think my place in the history books is safe and my legacy is cemented.”

Ali honored: Homage to 'The Greatest'

Muhammad Ali died on the morning of Bisping’s fight with Rockhold. He’d always been a hero for The Count. “I sat with my team in our hotel room on the day of the fight and we were all in shock. Not disbelief, but shock and sadness. The world had lost one of its true icons and legends,” he says.

“He was a man who captured the world’s imagination, one of the most charismatic people to walk the earth. I would never, ever put myself in the same sentence as Muhammad Ali but it was kind of weird to think that he died and then I was fighting for the title in an arena where Ali had fought. It put a smile on my face. It was a nice way of paying my own personal tribute to Ali.”

Family values: No chance of calling it a career

Bisping says he wanted to retire on a win, but now he owns a piece of middleweight hardware, there’s no chance of that – despite his wife’s wishes. “My wife actually wants me to retire but you’re not a world champion until you defend the belt. 

“She worries about me but this has also been our life for a long, long time. Pretty much since I met her I’ve been working on being a fighter. She knows I have ambitions in other areas. Let’s not kid ourselves, you can get hurt in there. She sees how hard it is in training camp. She wants me to do other things in my life and enjoy this moment and go out on top. But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to defend the belt.”

For the record: Number one for wins

After his championship accomplishment, no man has more wins inside the Octagon than Michael Bisping. His victory over Rockhold brought him level with Georges St Pierre at the top of the UFC pile with 19. His next fight will also bring him level with Frank Mir and Tito Ortiz as the athlete with the most bouts in the organization’s history.