Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC.
68 Facts About Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on 5 July 2019.
Michael Bisping's Polish paternal grandfather, Andrew, through his mother, was a member of the noble Zamoyski Family of Poland.
Michael Bisping began training Jujutsu at the age of eight.
At the age of 18, Michael Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training "to pursue real-life".
Less than a year later, Michael Bisping began training in boxing, kickboxing, and karate on the advice of Allan Clarkin, owner of Black Knights Kickboxing, who saw potential in him.
Michael Bisping enjoyed a short but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title.
Michael Bisping went on to defend his championship title in a rematch against Epstein at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified Michael Bisping as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in England.
At The Ultimate Fight Club UK: Natural Instinct on 29 January 2005, Michael Bisping made his cage kickboxing debut against David Brown in a light heavyweight contest.
Michael Bisping made his debut for the promotion at Ultimate Force on 30 April 2005, defeating Dave Radford to win the vacant Cage Warriors light heavyweight title.
Michael Bisping then competed in another light heavyweight cage kickboxing contest, against Cyrille Diabate at CWFC: Strike Force 1 on 21 May 2005, losing via decision after the end of the first extra round.
Michael Bisping captured the FX3 light-heavyweight title on 18 June 2005 and, for a time, reigned over the UK's major federations.
In early 2006, Michael Bisping was featured on the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality television series as a contestant training under Tito Ortiz.
Michael Bisping won a preliminary bout against Kristian Rothaermel by TKO, followed by a semi-final win against Ross Pointon by submission after landing a flying knee and a series of strikes.
Five months after his victory in the TUF 3 finals, Michael Bisping was slated to fight Eric Schafer at The Ultimate Fighter 4 finale, but withdrew because of problems acquiring his visa.
Michael Bisping defeated Schafer by TKO at 4:24 in the first round.
On 21 April 2007, Michael Bisping scored a TKO win over Elvis Sinosic at UFC 70 in Manchester, England.
Michael Bisping was a special guest referee at the Cage Warriors events Enter The Wolfslair on 5 March 2005 and CWFC: Strike Force 6 on 27 May 2006.
On 8 September 2007, Michael Bisping faced former Ultimate Fighter 3 rival Matt Hamill in London, England.
Since the start of his MMA career, people had been advising that Michael Bisping was undersized for the light heavyweight division and would do better at middleweight.
On 19 April 2008 at UFC 83, Michael Bisping made his middleweight debut against Charles McCarthy.
Michael Bisping won by TKO, as McCarthy was unable to continue after the first round due to a forearm injury he sustained after receiving an unanswered series of knees and uppercuts from Michael Bisping.
Michael Bisping's next fight was scheduled to be on 7 June 2008 at UFC 85 in London, against Chris Leben.
Michael Bisping won the fight in dominant fashion by first round TKO; it was his second 1st round TKO in a row.
Michael Bisping instead fought Leben in the headliner of UFC 89 on 18 October 2008 and won by unanimous decision.
Michael Bisping was confirmed as one of the coaches on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Michael Bisping was knocked out by Henderson with an overhand right while he was circling to his left.
Henderson followed up with a strike after Michael Bisping had fallen to the ground before the fight was stopped.
Michael Bisping faced Spirit MC and PRIDE veteran Denis Kang at UFC 105 on 14 November 2009.
Michael Bisping next faced former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110 on 21 February 2010.
Michael Bisping defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision on 29 May 2010 at UFC 114.
Michael Bisping faced off in an emotionally charged fight against Jorge Rivera on 26 February 2011 at UFC 127.
Michael Bisping dominated the first round scoring a few takedowns until he delivered an illegal knee to the head of Rivera.
On 27 May 2011, it was revealed that Michael Bisping would be one of the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 14 opposite Jason Miller.
Michael Bisping defeated Miller via third round TKO on 3 December 2011 at The Ultimate Fighter 14 finale.
Michael Bisping was expected to face Demian Maia on 28 January 2012 at UFC on Fox 2.
However, an injury forced Mark Munoz out of his bout on the same card with Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping instead fought Sonnen for a chance to challenge Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title.
Michael Bisping was expected to face Tim Boetsch on 21 July 2012 at UFC 149.
However, Michael Bisping was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Hector Lombard.
Michael Bisping faced Brian Stann on 22 September 2012 at UFC 152.
Michael Bisping went on to face Alan Belcher on 27 April 2013 at UFC 159.
Michael Bisping then stepped up the pace of the fight in round 2, landing some heavy kicks and multiple combinations of punches.
Michael Bisping was expected to face Mark Munoz on 26 October 2013 at UFC Fight Night 30.
Michael Bisping won the one-sided fight via TKO in the fourth round.
Michael Bisping faced Luke Rockhold on 8 November 2014 at UFC Fight Night 55.
Michael Bisping lost the fight in the second round after being dropped by a head kick and then submitted with a guillotine choke.
Michael Bisping faced Thales Leites on 18 July 2015 at UFC Fight Night 72.
Michael Bisping was expected to face Robert Whittaker on 15 November 2015 at UFC 193.
However, it was announced on 30 September 2015 that Michael Bisping had withdrawn from the bout, citing an elbow injury, and been replaced by Uriah Hall.
Michael Bisping was briefly linked to a fight with Gegard Mousasi on 27 February 2016 at UFC Fight Night 84.
Michael Bisping won via knockout in the first round to become the UFC Middleweight Champion and the first British UFC champion.
The result was considered by many MMA media outlets to be one of the biggest upsets in the UFC title fight history, as Michael Bisping took the fight on short notice and had been submitted in their first encounter 18 months earlier.
Michael Bisping faced Dan Henderson in a rematch on 8 October 2016 at UFC 204.
Michael Bisping won the fight via unanimous decision and retained the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Michael Bisping lost the bout via technical submission due to a rear-naked choke in the third round.
Michael Bisping lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
On 28 May 2018, Michael Bisping officially announced his retirement from MMA competition.
In late December 2018, Michael Bisping appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, elaborating on his retirement from MMA, which he said was due to eye injury suffered in the fight with Kelvin Gastelum.
On 16 March 2019, it was announced at UFC Fight Night: Till vs Masvidal that Michael Bisping would be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame under the modern era wing.
Later that month, Michael Bisping revealed that he is a fan of the 1990s television series Twin Peaks and that he had gained a small role in the 2017 continuation of the series.
Michael Bisping portrayed Roy Shaw in the sports drama film My Name Is Lenny.
Michael Bisping had a short cameo at the end of the 2018 film Den of Thieves.
In November 2020, it was announced that Michael Bisping would be playing the main role in a boxing movie titled The Journeyman, based on Mark Turley's book.
In that same month, Michael Bisping appeared as a tournament fighter, Dolph, in the HBO Max series Warrior.
Michael Bisping suffers from strabismus, which is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned when looking at an object.
Michael Bisping stated his satisfaction after Belfort lost via a knockout from a front kick by Lyoto Machida on 12 May 2018 at UFC 224, in his retirement fight.
Michael Bisping made his UFC colour commentary debut on 2 February 2019 at UFC Fight Night 144 in Fortaleza, Brazil, after several appearances in the Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series commentary team in 2018.
Michael Bisping then made his UFC pay-per-view commentary debut on 12 July 2020 at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.