Reigning UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping may not have always endeared himself to the fans, but he’s certainly accomplished a lot during his long UFC tenure. At one point most people had written Bisping off as ever becoming middleweight champion, though he proved all of the doubters wrong when he knocked out Luke Rockhold in June of last year.Since that time Bisping has has only defended the title one time, in a rematch against Dan Henderson that most thought he’d actually lost. Following that fight, Bisping took some time to heal some injuries but the division has grown restless waiting for him, especially knowing that his next fight will be against (GSP) Georges St. Pierre, who’s never competed in that division.
With that said, Bisping believes he’s earned this right and is trying to get the biggest paydays possible at this point in his career. In fact, he told “The MMA Hour,” that his title defense against GSP may be his final fight ever.
“And yeah, I think the career I’ve had, the years I’ve been in the UFC, the injuries I’ve had, the ups and downs, getting close to title fights and all of this, there’s a possibility — this might be my last ever fight. I don’t know if I’ll fight again after this. So, what a way to go out if it is.”
“Just, I’ve been here for so long,” Bisping explained. “I’ve done it for so long now, and there’s other things to do in life. I mean, I still love this, don’t get me wrong. But you can’t do it forever. You can’t do it forever, and Georges — Georges should’ve stayed retired. He should’ve retired as a champion. I’m going to beat Georges and I’ll retire as a champion, maybe. I haven’t made my mind up on that yet. It depends.
“If there’s enough money involved, maybe I’ll stick around. But as of right now, I don’t know. My family wants me to retire. My wife wants me to retire. There’s a lot of people saying, ‘Mike, you should retire.’ My manager says it. So everyone’s in my ear saying, ‘Mike, you should retire, you should retire as champion.’ I’ve earned some money along the way, I’ve had a great career, I’ve represented my country. I’ve achieved more through mixed martial arts than what I ever would’ve dreamed of. We can’t keep going forever. You’ve got to know when the time is right, and I’m not saying the time is right, but I am contemplating it.”
Bisping knows his time in the sport is winding down and doesn’t wanna overstay his welcome like a lot of other fighters have.
“It’s a 50/50 (chance I retire),” Bisping said. “It may or may not be. But not because — you know when you hear Dana (White) say, ‘When people start talking about retirement, that means they’re done.’ That doesn’t mean that at all. I’m just trying to think smartly here, because you can’t do it forever. You really can’t. And you’ve got to know when to walk away.
“Next year I’ve got three acting projects lined up that are all big — three big movies and a Netflix series. I’ve got things going on outside the Octagon and I’ve got money that I can earn outside of the Octagon. Ultimately, we do this for the money. You’re doing this right now because you want to earn money. I fight in the UFC because I want to earn money. And if I can earn money outside of the Octagon that’s just as good, that I don’t have to risk my health for, then it makes sense, and I can retire as the champion and parlay that into an active, successful career outside of the Octagon. And retiring a champion helps that. Retiring after you struggle through a ton of losses, and you once were champion and then you get seven shades of sh*t knocked out of you, you’re still making a payday — I’ve done myself an injustice there.”
The champ hasn’t made up his mind just yet though and will wait until after the fight to make a decision on what’s next.
“We’ll see,” Bisping said. “I’m still enjoying it. I’ve just had a great training session with (coach) Jason Parillo. Sparred five fives this morning, ran this morning. I’m going to go train tonight. The fire is still there, I’m still hungry as ever. I still love this sport and I’m going to put a beating on GSP like he’s never experienced. I’m going to remind him why he retired.”
