Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping suffered a tough title ending loss to Georges St-Pierre back at UFC 217. Now “The Count” has come forward to reveal that he suffered an injury just ahead of the match up.
Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made his big octagon return after nearly four years away from the sport at UFC 217 back in 2017. For the fight, “Rush” moved up in weight and challenged Bisping for his title in the night’s highly anticipated main event.
Bisping managed to pummel St-Pierre with some brutally punishing strikes during the match, bloodying the fighter for the rest of the match up. However, “The Count” ultimately suffered a submission loss to his opponent in the third round.
Speaking on the True Geordie Podcast, Bisping has now come forward to reveal that he tore cartilage in his ribs ahead of the big title fight.
“I actually tore the cartilage in my ribs the week before the fight. It was the final training session, we shouldn’t have done this sparring session, this sounds like an excuse. I didn’t talk about it at the time because it sounds like you’re making excuses but the reality was on the Friday before we flew to New York, Dean [Ammasinger] was out there, he was helping me a little bit and he shot in for a double leg takedown like his life depended on it. Ran me across the Octagon, I went down and he landed on top of my ribs.
“Generally that would be fine, but as soon as I went down, I felt something rip so I couldn’t move, I couldn’t rotate, I couldn’t do anything.”
“I got to New York and I was having treatment on it everyday, it was an absolute nightmare. So people said to me ‘you looked a little stiff in there, Michael’. Yeah, I was stiff for a very good reason. I tore the cartilage in my ribs but it was a big fight, a lot of money on the line, and as a fighter you still think you can do it.”
“It wasn’t my best performance, it didn’t go my way, but not taking anything away from Georges. God bless him, good for him, he got the job done.”
