Michael Bisping is a controversial man who does controversial things. Because of this, he’s grown to become one of the UFC’s largest stars.
From coaching multiple seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” to being in the main event of multiple “Fight Night Live” events and overseas pay-per-views, Bisping is fantastic at mixing fame with infamy.
Just yesterday, Bisping responded to a negative fan reaction at the “UFC on Fox 2” weigh-ins by flipping-off the crowd, which nearly cost him a sponsor.
Should this have even been an issue in the first place?
I think Bisping deserves to flip-off as many fans as he wants.
According to 5th Round, immediately after Bisping greeted the booing fans at the weigh-ins with a pair of middle fingers, Alden Halpern, the CEO of clothing company MMA ELITE, took to Twitter to voice his disapproval by permanently banning Bisping from being sponsored by MMA Elite.
But it turned out to be much ado about nothing; a short while later, Halpern retracted his statement, admitting that he had “jumped the gun.”
To be honest, I have a few conflicting feelings about this issue.
First off, I honestly think it’s a bit funny that a CEO of a major company took to Twitter to make a major announcement that was nothing more than a snap judgment that was later retracted.
You would think the CEO of one of the most popular MMA clothing brands currently on the market would have a little patience.
That said, I didn’t think much of Bisping flipping-off the fans. Should we really expect any different? At this point, all I do is shrug and say, “That’s Michael Bisping for you.”
I also think it’s important to note that Bisping’s antics have nothing to do with the MMA fanbase as a whole.
Whenever we see a controversial fighter do something controversial that focuses on the audience, we tend to make the same snap judgment that Halpern made: He hates the fans, and that’s bad for the sport and bad for business.
But I don’t think that’s true. Bisping doesn’t hate the fans; Bisping hates his haters.
When was the last time Bisping flipped-off a crowd that was cheering him? When was the last time Bisping snatched the mic away from Joe Rogan and told off a pro-Bisping crowd?
Some fighters take a negative fan reaction in stride. Bisping is not one of those fighters. Should he be criticized for that? Occasionally.
Should that garner even more hate for him from the anti-Bisping crowd? Absolutely.
But should that cost the man his livelihood? Absolutely not.
We all know what Bisping is: He’s a bad boy. And all sports have their bad boys. I’d go one further: all sports need bad boys.
If all we had were squeaky-clean do-gooders, you and I know that it’d get very boring very quickly.
So give Bisping a little leeway, and just like Halpern, come to your senses the next time you think he should be seriously punished just for being himself.
Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan, and lifelong video game nerd. For more news, views, previews, and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.
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