Issue 041
September 2008
When you’re the poster boy for an entire country you learn a thing or two about pressure, but Michael Bisping says it’s not a problem. “Right now, things couldn’t get much better for me.”
After two highly successful fights at his new weight of 185lb, Michael Bisping is in a good place right now. With a hectic schedule of appearances, PR, seminars and such, the last few months have been a whirlwind of activity. For the man from the sleepy town of Clitheroe, it’s like someone has had their finger on the fast-forward button. “Sometimes I think, what is it they say? ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss’. It just keeps escalating – you win one fight, that leads to a co-main event, you win and that leads to a main event, it keeps getting bigger and bigger every time. My phone just doesn’t stop ringing, constantly. Reporters, press, it just never ends. It’s pretty crazy.”
Don’t think for a moment that he would want it any other way though. Since dropping down from light heavyweight, it seems he can hardly put a foot wrong. A brutal dismantling of Charles McCarthy in Montreal saw Bisping make a statement at middleweight in front of one of the biggest crowds in North America to date. A triumphant return to London saw him easily dispatch of Jason Day. “How can I put this without sounding like an arrogant bastard? You sit down and look at your career, and it’s not something I think about too much, but within the confines of my own home I do sit down and talk to my girlfriend and say, ‘God, things are going well’.
“I couldn’t have planned it any better! You couldn’t sit down and plan my MMA career any better. It’s just gone perfectly, there’s been a lot of hard work and a few lucky breaks, but everything has happened at the right time. Like I say, I’ve worked hard, but I have had a bit of luck along the way.”
Bisping did indeed catch a monumental break in the form of winning The Ultimate Fighter, but the UFC’s expansion into Europe didn’t hurt. “Everything happened at the right time. I was on The Ultimate Fighter, then they [the UFC] opened an English office, so they needed an English fighter to push that, and I’d just won TUF so that made sense.”
The saying goes that everyone’s a critic, and Bisping has faced more than his fair share in his time, but he doesn’t let it bother him. One thing that gets to him though, is when armchair warriors say that had he not won TUF 3, he would be a nobody. “If I’d lost my first couple of fights, it would have been irrelevant,” he states with no small amount of irritation. “For people to say that’s the only reason, and some idiots do on forums… I’m nearly through my Ultimate Fighter contract, and I’ve only lost one fight, by split decision in a main event.”
The sole blip on his record was a controversial split decision loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 78 in New Jersey and, though it prompted Bisping to drop down in weight, he doesn’t see the fight as a setback to his career in the slightest. “The fight with Rashad, I took a lot of positives from that. Obviously, it was a main event, it wasn’t a step back.”
Being in the spotlight is something the Lancastrian is very familiar with. As his scheduled bout on UFC 89 in October approaches, he’s excited at the prospect of headlining an event so close to home. “It’s my first [main event] in England, which means a lot to me. It’s my second main event. Two main events and two co-main events. It’s mental. I never would have thought that’d be happening. Just to get in the UFC was good enough for me.”
The Count vs. The Crippler
His opponent for October is Chris Leben, who he was slated to fight earlier this year. Leben was under parole for a drink-driving conviction and violated it by moving to Hawaii. When he applied for a visa to leave the USA, he found himself in jail. With his debt to society now paid, the slugger nicknamed ‘The Crippler’ is all set to arrive in England come the 19th of October.
“I kind of knew this fight was going to happen,” says Michael. “There was a lot of interest in it, fans talking about the fight, so I knew that if I beat Jason Day, which I did, they would line the fight up. My hunch was correct. The next day after the fight [with Day] there was an email from Joe Silva, like there always is, and it said ‘Chris Leben’.
“I think it’s a good fight – my toughest fight to date, I’d say. He’s very experienced, hits hard, has got a good chin. He’s a brawler, but he’s a brawler with technique. He’s not just an out-and-out brawler, he knows what he’s doing. He’s been around the scene for a long time.
An opponent like Leben poses a number of problems. A hard hitter with good clinching skills and a developed ground game, how Bisping handles the challenge will have fans around the world taking note and, though the Englishman considers himself as mentally strong and focused, he admits the pressure is on in this fight. “I had a few weeks off after my last fight, and you put a little bit of weight on, your cardio’s not what it were when you were in fight shape, and you start thinking ‘shit, shit’. You hear that he’s training in Hawaii and training hard, you think ‘I’d better get off my arse and start doing something!’
“You’re the main event, and you hear the place has practically sold out already, so for me the attention is going to be big. I’m feeling the pressure now but soon I’ll forget about it, I’ll just get into my training and I won’t think about it.”
Focus is one of Mike’s keys to success. Once he enters training, he pours every iota of his energy into preparing for the fight. “When I train for a fight that’s all I think about, 24-7. It’s the last thing I think about when I fall asleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up.”
It’s difficult for some to appreciate exactly how much of a burden this is. The constant pressure can weigh some people down, but Bisping flips this around and turns it into a positive, focussing instead on the feeling that comes after
a fight.
“It weighs on your mind, but after the fight, backstage, I’m just so happy. I remember saying to Lorenzo [Fertitta, in Montreal] ‘Oh my god, I’m just so happy!’ It’s lifted off your shoulders, the pressure of that fight, the burden, it’s gone – until the next one comes round. For a while you’re a free man! And then Joe Silva sends you the bloody email – you know, I wish he’d just hang fire a little bit longer! You did it, you won your fight, your training paid off, you’ve been paid, your career has moved a step forward – for a while you’re a free man.”
Afghanistan
Zuffa has been making efforts to help entertain the troops in the Middle East and Central Asia, and Michael was given the opportunity to travel to the war-torn country of Afghanistan along with BJ Penn, (WEC Champions) Urijah Faber and Carlos Condit. Aside from the opportunity to travel to somewhere unusual and do his bit for the servicemen, there was the chance for Michael to meet with his younger brother Adam, who is a solider in the Royal Engineers. “When the UFC asked me in the week leading up to the Jason Day fight if I’d be interested [in going] after the fight, because my brother is out there, I said of course, if I can catch up with my brother.
“When I got there it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. They said ‘we can try’. They surprised me, we were doing a demonstration for the Special Forces, and there were about 300 people there, and they said ‘Michael, we’ve got a surprise for you’, and he came walking out. It was a pretty nice moment, my kid brother coming out in his uniform with his machine gun and everything, quite weird seeing him like that, but it was good.”
Aside from the pleasure of seeing his brother, the trip came with other perks as well. “The experience as a whole in Afghanistan was unreal. At the time I couldn’t wait to get out of there, because it’s a war zone! We were deep in the heart of it, flying to different bases every day in Black Hawk helicopters with the doors open, going sideways over the tops of mountains, shooting machine guns out the side of Chinooks, doing a lot of things people don’t get to do. I feel like a lucky man, getting to do things like that, meet a lot of new people, getting to see the world, things like that.”
The Count’s tips for aspiring Ultimate Fighters
Just do it
“I get asked a lot for advice through my website, www.bisping.tv,” says Mike. “I always say if it’s what you want to do, then do it. You’ve got to put your heart and soul into it. I believe anyone in this world can do anything they want if they put their minds to it, and I really do believe that. I said years ago I was going to be a professional DJ, everyone laughed, and I became a professional DJ. Then I said I was going to be a professional fighter, and I said one year from now you’re going to watch me on Sky Sports, and eight months later they were watching me knock out Epstein. Now look at me, I’m main event in the UFC. That’s a decision I made years ago and I made it happen. If you’re willing to make the sacrifices and put the time and effort in, you can make it happen.”
Find a good team
“You’ve got to find a good gym and a good team, you’re only as good as the guys you train with. I’m lucky, I train at the Wolfslair and it’s a great gym. Do your homework, find a good place to train and get some good teammates.”
Enjoy it!
“You’ve got to enjoy what you do – if you’re not enjoying it then pack it in and go do something else. Go do ballet or become a maths teacher or something!”
Bisping’s UK fighters to keep an eye on
Though he’s the best-known fighter, Mike is one of a whole generation of fighters to come from the UK. “There’s a lot of good talent coming through in the UK now, you can go to any gym and train with someone you’ve never heard of or seen before and they’ll give a good workout. On the whole, the UK scene is thriving,” he says.
Paul Kelly (7-0-0)
“From the Wolfslair, he got off to a good start in the UFC and he’s got a good fight with Marcus Davis on UFC 89.”
Dan Hardy (19-6-0)
“He’s fighting on the same card [UFC 89]. Expect good things from him, everyone in the UK knows who Dan is.”
Mick and Rob Sinclair (4-2-0 and 3-0-0)
“I think both of them have got great potential, I taught them both back in the day. Both quite young – good, strong, fit, technical and aggressive lads.”
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