Perennial UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping definitely got knocked out in sparring last week…or absolutely didn’t.
That all depends who you want to believe: Middle Easy or “The Count” himself.
In their weekly addition of the Sunday Morning Rumor Mill, here’s what the MMA news outlet reported about Bisping:
Michael Bisping visited the Wild Card’s gym in Hollywood, CA to touch up on his stand-up for this upcoming fight against Mark Munoz. Apparently Bisping was going really hard in the ring and disrespecting his sparring partner, so a coach sent in a professional boxer to ‘spar’ with Bisping. Within minutes, this professional boxer knocked out Bisping as payback for disrespecting the Wild Card gym.
Bisping quickly refuted the report via a video on his Instagram page Thursday morning:
Whoever said I recently got knocked out in sparring is full of s***. I’ve never been knocked out in sparring in my life. So Middle Easy, or whatever you call that website … (shows middle finger to the camera).
To their credit, Middle Easy has posted Bisping‘s response, though they stick to their guns, noting they never would’ve posted the story if it didn’t come “from a reliable source.”
While Bisping is just 2-2 in his past four fights, he has a chance to remain a key player in the UFC’s middleweight division with a victory over Mark Munoz at UFC Fight Night 4.
Bisping, a former The Ultimate Fighter winner, will have a home field advantage for the October 26 bout, as the event is scheduled to take place in Manchester, England.
According to the UFC’s official rankings, Bisping is the No. 4 middleweight in the world, while “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” comes in at No. 6.
After a year-long layoff, Munoz returned to action at UFC 162 on July 6, earning a convincing unanimous decision over Tim Boetsch.
As far as getting knocked out in training goes, is Bisping simply trying to save face here or did Middle Easy make a mistake?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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