Michael Bisping isn’t here to make friends.
Aside from pure longevity, perhaps the current middleweight champion’s biggest strength throughout his 11-year, 26-fight career in the Octagon has been an ability to turn every fight into a blood feud.
Expect Saturday’s meeting with Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 217 to be no different.
As one of the earliest adopters of a pro-wrestling-style heel persona in the modern UFC, Bisping made himself a fighter people loved to hate years before Brock Lesnar, Chael Sonnen or Ronda Rousey got in on the act. In so doing, he positioned himself as a dependable asset during a critical time in the fight company’s rise.
Simply put, Bisping could sell a fight against anybody. He’s been brash, he’s been abrasive, and—with the benefit of more than a decade of hindsight now on the beginning of his run—we can confidently say he’s been much better than expected.
Couple it all with his surprising run with the 185-pound title, during a late-career surge that already includes wins over Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson, and it’s increasingly likely history will remember Bisping kindly, even if fight fans didn’t fully appreciate his contributions to the sport as they were happening.
The 38-year-old Manchester, England, product bluntly summed-up his love-hate relationship with his critics this week at Wednesday’s open workouts at Madison Square Garden.
“Boo me? Cheer me? F–k you,” a smiling Bisping said to the gathered crowd, after taking the mic from UFC interviewer Megan Olivi.
Most of those in attendance at MSG seemed to be laughing along with Bisping‘s performance at this point. Now that he’s comfortably ensconced as one of the UFC’s longest-standing veterans, most hardcore fight aficionados are hip to his game.
The Count has set about working his typical magic against St-Pierre during the lead-up to what is expected to be one of the UFC’s biggest fights of 2017. The brash Brit began needling the mild-mannered former welterweight champ even before their on-again, off-again fight was made official for this weekend.
Bisping arrived late to the pair’s initial press conference in May, strolling on stage in a T-shirt and leather jacket, picking up his microphone to cut St-Pierre off mid-answer and announce: “No one gives a f–k, Georges.”
From there, Bisping kept it up through a series of media events, mocking St-Pierre on every topic from his reluctance to fight Anderson Silva during the prime of their careers to St-Pierre’s extended hiatus from MMA following a UFC 167 win over Johny Hendricks in November 2013.
“He didn’t want to fight [anymore] because Johny Hendricks hit him in the head so many times, he thought he’d been abducted by aliens …,” Bisping said in August, via MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco and Simon Samano. “Dude, I’m going to hit you so many times, you’re going to think you’re going to disappear on the mothership.”
That media gathering concluded with a face-off during which Bisping reached out to squeeze St-Pierre’s bicep and GSP shoved him back.
So, has Bisping succeeded in rattling the French-Canadian phenom during the protracted run-up to their bout? That remains to be seen.
What is already known is that Bisping has been one of the UFC’s most consistent performers—both in and out of the cage—for more than a decade. Any realistic discussion of the man’s career at this point must admit he’s exceeded expectations at every turn.
Bisping had already established himself as one of the best fighters in the UK by the time he won the third season of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter reality show as a light heavyweight in 2006. Afterward, five of his first 10 UFC fights took place in England, which made him an important cog in the organization’s early efforts at international expansion.
Still, Bisping was largely underestimated as an in-cage performer throughout most of his career. Even after dropping from 205 pounds to the middleweight division in 2008 he remained one of the UFC’s most called-out fighters. Detractors said he lacked power in his hands and that he’d benefitted from advantageous matchmaking decisions early in his career.
Truth is, though? Most of those people who singled Bisping out for a fight ended up on the short end of it.
Fast-forward to 2017 and Bisping’s 20 wins in the Octagon stand as the most all-time in UFC history. His 20-7 overall organizational record is also better than anyone likely would have forecasted a decade ago.
He’s beefed with legends like Wanderlei Silva, Henderson and Vitor Belfort and gotten under the skin of championship-level performers like Rockhold and Rashad Evans. He’s also elevated fights with bit-part performers like Jorge Rivera and C.B. Dollaway into halfway interesting attractions.
The bad guy act has been so successful because it’s entirely believable. Bisping’s cheeky one-liners and cocky strut come across as parts of his normal personality, just with the volume turned up a bit.
On the side, he’s fashioned himself into a decent on-air broadcaster for Fox Sports and landed acting roles in a number of minor films—even making an appearance earlier this year in Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival.
Oh yeah, and he’s got a great chance to retire as UFC middleweight champion, too.
If Bisping beats St-Pierre this weekend—where he’s going off as a slight favorite, according to Odds Shark—he’ll have attained one of combat sports’ most precious commodities: The option to walk away on top and on his own terms.
Prior to this bout, he has by turns hinted at retirement and said he’ll carry on for at least a little while longer.
Either way, Bisping’s body of work is easily good enough to warrant consideration as a top-20 fighter all-time in the UFC.
Unless things go terribly wrong for him from here, history will likely tell his story in a more positive light than anyone—especially the haters—ever imagined.
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