After suffering a loss at the hands of Kelvin Gastelum last November, Michael Bisping was not sure whether he wanted to fight for MMA again. He kept considering his options – whether he wanted to hang his fighting gloves or compete in closing brawl before calling it quits.
After months of weighing his decision, The Count finally decided to put a full stop to his fighting career, which he announced on his podcast Believe You Me.
The 39-year-old did not appear in any fight since a knockout loss to Gastelum. Before his loss at hands of Kelvin, he faced an unpleasant title handover to Georges St-Pierre. If Bisping doesn’t change his mind about retirement, his KO defeat would be the closing bout for his MMA career that spanned over 14 years.
Breaking News! Michael Bisping has officially announced his retirement! Catch the count talking about hanging up the gloves in this clip. https://t.co/9wcbJEHAk6 or head to https://t.co/3zQRzcpafC and use promo code BYM for a free trial to watch the full episode in HD!!!
— BelieveYouMePodcast (@BYMPod) May 28, 2018
Former UFC Middleweight champion has a whopping 20-9 career with notable wins over opponents such as Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Cung Le and others. His most significant victory in MMA is a win from Luke Rockhold in June 04, 2016, which he fought in a week’s notice to claim his debut UFC title.
The Briton suffered a retina-injury in 2013, a factor which he attributes to his retirement. He kept on fighting despite his distorted vision from one eye. His latest loss in the ring caused his vision to blur from the other, a reason he quotes for his retirement.
According to Bisping “It’s been a long journey – in 2003, I started training. So 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, and of course I’ve got issues with my eye. After the [Kelvin] Gastelum fight, I started having issues with my good eye, which I’ve never spoken about before.”
Bisping is the first and only Briton to don UFC title. He gave five back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016, and an impressive title defence in UFC 204 against Henderson. The Count was determined to defend his accolade once again; however, he handed over his title after being trounced by Georges St-Pierre.
Bisping was looking up to fight Rashad Evans for the last time in London. He said, “That never happened — probably a good thing.”
Michael Bisping truly lived like a MMA king. With his countless wins in the ring and a title under his belt, the Count, is tied for his maximum 20 wins along with St-Pierre and Donald Cerrone. It’s not wrong to say that Bisping ruled many hearts, and fought his own unique way. His retirement would close a golden era of MMA which saw a good looking and talented fighter make his way to the top.
