Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Michael Bisping is the most famous British fighter to participate in the UFC, fighting between 2006 and 2018. Today we’re looking at where the Count started his journey, along with memorable moments from his career and what he is doing today.
While Bisping is out of the game, many other great fighters are meeting in the Octagon every few weeks. If you’re part of the betting crowd, you should get out MMA fights odds for the best action.
While Michael was born in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, he was born on a British military base and had roots in England, Ireland, and Poland. He started training to fight young, learning Jujutsu when he was 8 and then competing in Britain’s first no-holds-barred competition when he was 14.
His MMA career started in 2004 at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages, where he won his first submission in 38 seconds. In his second fight, he recorded a knockout at UK MMA Challenge 7: Rage & Fury. His third fight saw him become Cage Rage light heavyweight champion, becoming known as the Great British Hope.
During this time, he also fought for Cage Warriors and won their FX3 light heavyweight title. Care Rage withdrew Bisping’s title with them as punishment for other fights with other MMA promotions, mainly Cage Warriors, where Bisping continued to defend against other British fighters like Ross Pointon.
In 2006, Bisping joined The Ultimate Fighter 3, the third season of UFC’s hit reality show. It was the first season that fighters outside of North America were called to participate.
Training under Tito Ortiz, Bisping beat Kristian Rothaermel with a TKO and then went on to his next opponent at the semi-finals. This was none other than Ross Pointon, the second English fighter in the show, who Bisping beat spectacularly after landing a flying kick and then locking in a submission.
The finals saw Bisping face Josh Haynes by TKO, a fight that went to the end of the second round. After his finals win, Bisping was supposed to fight Eric Schafer at the next season’s finale but this fell through.
Bisping’s fight with Schafer was moved to UFC 66, where he put Schafer down in the first round.
Quite fittingly, his next fight was at UFC 70: Nations Collide, which was hosted out of Manchester, England.
On his home turf, Bisping beat Elvis Sinosic with a TKO. His first loss came later at UFC 78, where Rashad Evans beat The Count by split decision.
Bisping had always been small for the light heavyweight division, so he decided to drop to middleweight after his first loss. This led to a TKO win at UFC 83 against Charles McCarthy. After some other fights, he became a coach on season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, fighting rival coach Dan Henderson at UFC 100 and suffering a knockout from the former Pride fighter. This was his first-ever knockout, which he didn’t remember when he woke up.
After recording several Fight of the Night awards, Bisping faced his first UFC rivalry with Jorge Rivera. After a lot of trash talking and bad blood between the two, Bisping beat Rivera and even got penalized for an illegal knee to his head. He won the fight by TKO and spat at him after the fight was over, for which he was fined.
The incident didn’t just humble Bisping, it made him a target. Fighters like Vitor Belfort, Demian Maia, and Chael Sonnen were now asking for a chance at The Count. Of those, it was Sonnen who had his chance at Bisping, defeating him with a UD. He then fought Belfort in 2013 and, like the Sonnen fight, lost. In both cases, he lost his chance at becoming a contender for the middleweight title. Belfort’s fight-ending kick also damaged Bisping’s eye.
Bisping’s chance at the title inevitably came after Weidman had to pull out of a fight with Luke Rockhold. Bisping put Rockhold known with a first-round KO, becoming the first British UFC champion, and he won Performance of the Night. It was a huge upset that made Bisping a hit with fans.
After his title victory, he rematched Dan Henderson and beat him this time. His next title defense was against Georges St-Pierre, which finally happened at UFC 217. The Count couldn’t put in the performance against one of the UFC’s greatest fighters, falling to a rear-naked chokehold in round three.
After losing his title, Bisping had to fight Kelvin Gastelum and suffered yet another loss, a first-round knockout.
Later, he announced his retirement from MMA as a whole and elaborated on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He explained that Gastelum injured his other eye – his “good eye” – and so he didn’t want to lose his sight quality.
Bisping was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame a year later, has started a career as an actor, and has since released a book about his life, which no doubt goes into more detail than we have here!
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
