Michael Bisping has been retired from the UFC for a few years now, but the fighting spirit that he had over his career hasn’t appeared to go away.
This is especially true with his most recent claim that he was offered a half-million to fight Jake Paul in a boxing match set for a Showtime pay-per-view later this year. Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley ended up being announced as Paul’s next opponent after weeks of speculation.
During a recent interview with LowKickMMA, Bisping stated that he had been subjected to an offer to fight the internet celebrity but had turned it down as it wasn’t enough to drag him out of retirement.
In a recent appearance on his video podcast “Believe You Me”, Bisping revealed that he was one of the first people who Paul’s camp reached out to after the Ben Askren fight and revealed exactly how much money he turned down.
“I’m happy for him,” Bisping said of Woodley. “I don’t know what he’s going to get paid, but I’ll tell you right now. I was offered $500,000 to fight Jake Paul, so I would assume it’s probably more since the fight’s happening. So good for him. He might go out there and might be getting $1 million, and I couldn’t be happier for Tyron, because he really deserves it.”
“This is a more interesting matchup. Everybody didn’t know. Everybody f*cking kissed Ben Askren’s ass and said he was going to wipe the floor. There was one person that was smart enough, and I’m sorry to say, it was me. I knew it was going to happen. But Tyron Woodley, I still think…he could put on a fight.”
Bisping retired from MMA following a long career in the UFC. At the time of his retirement, he left the octagon with the most fights in UFC history and is widely regarded as one of the most important influences in the sport.
Bisping now enjoys a new career venture in the world of broadcasting, as part of the UFC’s team on ESPN. While the Woodley/Paul matchup will be intriguing, a fight involving Bisping would’ve been just as interesting.
What do you think about Michael Bisping nearly taking a fight with Jake Paul?