Michael Bisping Retires From MMA
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has officially retired. The winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 announced on his “Believe You Me” Podcast that he is hanging up the gloves, citing health issues as a major trigger for deciding to call it a career. “It’s been a long journey. It started in 2003 that I started training. 15 years as a professional fighter, 12 or 13 years in the UFC. You can’t do it forever. I’ve done it for a long time. I’ve got issues with my eye. After the Kelvin Gastelum I developed issues with my good eye. After the Gastelum fight I went to a party with my team, we went to a club and I kept seeing a flash out of the corner of my eye. I realized there wasn’t a flash, it was my eye. I couldn’t believe it. I said I was going to be done fighting then but I contemplated another fight in London (against Rashad Evans) that didn’t happen. It ain’t worth it. I’ve won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins, I’ve done everything I’ve set out to achieve. You gotta know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 and the time is now.”
Bisping retires with a 30-9 record in MMA including a 20-9 record in the UFC. The Brit holds the UFC record for most fights at 29 and is tied with Georges St-Pierre and Donald Cerrone for most wins in the Octagon at 20. The high point of Bisping’s career came at UFC 199 in 2016 when he filled in on short notice against UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and knocked him out to win the title in one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. Bisping then defended the belt once against Dan Henderson at UFC 204 only to lose it to GSP at UFC 205. He then returned to the Octagon on short notice to fight Gastelum and was brutally knocked out, and that’s the last time we’ll ever see Bisping fight. He had an amazing career and should continue to remain a prominent figure in the sport as an analyst and podcaster, and we here at MMAOB wish Bisping the best of luck in his post-fighting life.
