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Michael Bisping Bio
Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (born 28 February 1979) is an English mixed martial artist. He fights in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion, former Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight Tournament winner. As of March 2012, Bisping is ranked the No. 4 middleweight in the world by Sherdog.
Early life
Bisping was born in manchester UK in 1979, but moved to Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England when he was a child. Taking an early interest in martial arts, Bisping began training in a traditional form of jiu-jitsu known as Yawara Ryu under Paul Lloyd Davies when he was 8 years old. In 1994, at the age of 15, Bisping competed as an amateur in England's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO), organised by Davies.
At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order "to pursue real life". But less than a year later Bisping began training kickboxing and karate on the advice of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym, who saw potential in the young fighter. Bisping enjoyed a short, but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title. After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time. Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, Bisping was forced to abandon his full-time training for a "real job". Bisping worked in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer, a postman, a tiler, a plasterer, a double-glazing door salesman,production line operative making barbecues at Rectella in Clitheroe and also a relatively successful DJ around the north-west club scene.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
Bisping made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on 4 April 2004, taking a 0:38 submission victory over Steve Mathews. Just one month later, Bisping scored his first knockout against John Weir at UK MMA Challenge 7: Rage & Fury. In his third MMA match, Bisping became the Cage Rage light heavyweight champion at Cage Rage 7, defeating Mark Epstein by technical knockout. Bisping went on to defend his championship title in a rematch against Epstein at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified Bisping as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in England. It also earned him the moniker "The Great British Hope", by UFC.com.
At The Ultimate Fight Club UK: Natural Instinct on 29 January 2005, Bisping made his cage kickboxing debut against David Brown in a light heavyweight contest. With Brown badly cut, Bisping picked up the win via medical stoppage in round 2.
Bisping, who trains with the Wolfslair MMA Academy, the professional fight team of Cage Warriors, 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. Bisping then competed in another light heavyweight cage kickboxing contest, against Cyrille Diabate at CWFC: Strike Force 1 on 21 May 2005, losing to Diabaté via decision after the end of the first extra round. He captured the FX3 light-heavyweight title on 18 June 2005 and was reigning on UK's major federations. In his first Cage Warriors title defence, Bisping defeated Miika Mehmet at CWFC: Strike Force 2, on 16 July 2005.
In September 2005, Cage Rage stripped the light heavyweight title from Bisping due to "management issues that Michael currently has", though Cage Warriors however stated that "Bisping was willing to defend his title but is being punished by Cage Rage due to his Wolfslair and Cage Warriors links". Towards the end of 2005, Bisping continued to successfully defend the Cage Warriors title against Jakob Lovstad and Ross Pointon in the CWFC: Strike Force series of events, leading to a record of 10 wins and no losses.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
In early 2006 Bisping was featured on the UFCs The Ultimate Fighter reality television series as a contestant training under Tito Ortiz. He 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. In the finals, Bisping defeated Josh Haynes by TKO at 4:14 into the second round, making Bisping the second Light Heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter television series.
Five months after his victory in the TUF 3 finals, Bisping was slated to fight Eric Schafer at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, but withdrew because of problems acquiring his visa. The fight was re-scheduled and held on 30 December at UFC 66. Bisping defeated Schafer by TKO at 4:24 in the first round.
On 21 April 2007, Bisping scored a TKO win over Elvis Sinosic at UFC 70 in Manchester, England. Sinosic came out fighting and Bisping eagerly obliged, firing back before throwing the Australian to the canvas. Bisping then launched a vicious ground and pound attack, opening a cut on Sinosic's forehead. In the second round Bisping was knocked down from a knee. Then Sinosic almost secured a kimura before Bisping reversed and pounded away until Steve Mazzagatti stopped the bout at 1:40 of the second round.
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, Bisping faced former Ultimate Fighter 3 rival Matt Hamill in London, England and won a controversial split decision after 3 rounds. Hamill pushed the pace and took Bisping down numerous times in the first two rounds, with Bisping hitting solid strikes and blocking numerous takedown attempts towards the end of the second and in the third round. Both American judges scored the bout 29–28 for Bisping, the lone British judge voted 30–27 for Hamill.
Bisping's next match at UFC 78 against fellow Ultimate Fighter winner Rashad Evans resulted in his first loss, via split decision with the scores being 29-28 for Bisping, and 29-28 (twice) for Evans.
Move down to Middleweight
Since the start of his MMA career, people had been advising Bisping that he was a little too small for light heavyweight and would do better at middleweight, and after his loss to Rashad Evans, Bisping decided to drop down a weight division, with Dana White's support. On 19 April 2008 at UFC 83, Bisping made his debut as a Middleweight against Charles McCarthy who had a rather lackluster record in MMA. 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 Bisping.
Bisping's next fight at middleweight, was on 7 June 2008 at UFC 85 in London, against Jason Day.
Bisping was originally set to face Chris Leben, but Jason Day stepped in as Leben was in jail for 35 days and unable to compete. Bisping won the fight in dominant fashion in the first round, securing two takedowns and applying a high paced pressure; it was his second 1st round TKO in a row.
Bisping headlined UFC 89 on 18 October, in a matchup against Chris Leben, who Bisping was supposed to face in UFC 85. Bisping won a unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 30–27 (twice), and 29–28 for Bisping. Bisping used effective counter punching in the fight to keep the aggressive Leben at bay. After the fight Leben tested positive for Stanozolol and was suspended for nine months.
After the fight with Leben, Bisping was confirmed as one of the coaches on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. The other coach was American Dan Henderson.
Bisping would fight Henderson after the show's conclusion, at UFC 100 on 11 July 2009 at Mandalay Bay . The fight was believed to be an eliminator for the UFC Middleweight Championship top contender spot. Bisping was knocked out by Henderson with a flush overhand right while he was circling to his left. Henderson followed up with a strike after Bisping had fallen to the ground before the fight was stopped. It marked the first occasion Bisping had ever conceded a knockout loss and also only his second loss in his MMA career to date.
Bisping faced Spirit MC & Pride veteran Denis Kang on 14 November 2009 at UFC 105. Bisping TKO'd Kang in the 2nd round. Kang dropped Bisping with a right hand in the first round which stunned Bisping. Kang followed Bisping to the floor and attempted submissions, but Bisping defended well and neutralised Kang's attacks despite Kang briefly having full mount. In the 2nd round Bisping secured a single-leg takedown and the complexion of the fight changed. He unleashed a ground and pound attack on the Canadian, which Kang failed to recover from. The fight was awarded "Fight of the Night" giving both Kang and Bisping a $40,000 bonus.
Bisping next faced former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva on 21 February 2010 at UFC 110. Wanderlei Silva's ability to flurry in the final seconds of the second and third rounds, two knockdowns and an attempted guillotine choke contributed to his victory by a clear unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).
Bisping defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision on 29 May 2010 at UFC 114.
Bisping faced and defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama on October, 16th 2010 at UFC 120, winning 30–27 on all three judges' scorecards. The fight was awarded Fight of the Night honours. Though Bisping was rocked early in the fight by Akiyama, he regained his composure and landed combos repeatedly on Akiyama to sweep all three judges scorecards.
Bisping faced off in an emotionally charged fight against Jorge Rivera on 26 February 2011 at UFC 127. Both fighters had trash talked each other before the fight, having to be restrained at the weigh-in during a verbal argument. Bisping dominated the first round scoring a few takedowns until he delivered an illegal knee to the head of Rivera. A point was taken from Bisping and, after a lengthy halt to the action, the fight continued. The fight ended with a TKO from Bisping in the second round. After the fight Bisping spat at Rivera's corner and confronted Rivera on pre-fight comments that Bisping thought disparaged his family. Rivera denied the comments and tried to mend things but Bisping told him to "Go home" and called him a "loser." In the aftermath of the incident Bisping faced "disciplinary actions" and was fined. Multiple fighters have since come forward saying they want to fight Bisping in light of the incident including UFC middleweight notables Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Demian Maia, Alan Belcher, and Nate Marquardt.
On 27 May 2011, it was revealed that Bisping would be one of the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter Season 14, opposite to Jason Miller. There were concerns that Jason Miller had spies in Michael Bisping's training camp, but Bisping was confident that was not true. Bisping defeated Jason Miller via third round TKO on 3 December 2011 at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale.
Bisping was expected to face Demian Maia on 28 January 2012 at UFC on Fox 2 However, an injury forced Mark Muñoz out of his bout on the same card with Chael Sonnen and Bisping will now face Sonnen at the event. Dana White has stated in an interview that if Bisping beats Chael Sonnen he will face Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title. Bisping lost the fight via a controversial unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 all for Sonnen. Despite the fact that many felt that Bisping won the fight, including UFC President, Dana White.
Bisping was expected to face Tim Boetsch on 7 July 2012 at UFC 148. However, the bout is now expected to take place on 21 July at UFC 149.
Personal life
Bisping's grandfather Andrew (Andrzej) was a Polish noble, a military leader of the "Bishop's Pings" (hence "Bisping" and his nickname "The Count"). After World War II, Bisping's grandparents relocated to England. His father Jan was in the British military.
Bisping has three children with his wife, Rebecca. Bisping's third child was born just before he set off to the USA for final preparation in his fight against Dan Miller.
Bisping has family around the globe, including in Germany, England, Ireland and the United States.
He currently resides in Orange County, California.
Championships & accomplishments
Mixed martial arts
- Cage Rage
- Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Championship (One time)
- One successful title defenses
- Cage Warriors
- Cage Warriors Light Heavyweight Championship (One time)
- Three successful title defenses
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight Tournament Winner
- Fight of the Night (Three times)
Mixed martial arts record
External links
- Official website
- Official UFC Profile
- Professional MMA record for Michael Bisping from Sherdog
MMA Shirts
