Former undisputed UFC middleweight champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Michael Bisping has revealed the origins of his interesting feud with former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion, Conor McGregor – revealing the pair exchanged a number of hostile messages back-and-forth.
Bisping, who has since turned his hand to color commentary work for the UFC since his retirement back in May 2018, claimed that the real origins of his rivalry with McGregor began back in 2016.
The Manchester fan-favourite claimed that McGregor contacted him in a bid to secure a manager, before Bisping pointed him in the direction of current manager, Paradigm Sports Management leader, Audie Attar, which led to a healthy relationship between the two.
Michael Bisping clinched the undisputed middleweight title with a rematch with over Luke Rockhold in 2016
Speaking on his YouTube channel during a live Q&A session, Bisping then claimed that McGregor had accepted an offer to appear in the 2017 action thriller, XXX: Return of Xander Cage – until his loss to Nate Diaz forced him to rebuff the offer in a bid to focus on the rematch.
Bisping then revealed he auditioned to play a role in the film, which he eventually scored, which led to a frosty response from McGregor before his rematch with Diaz, in which he claimed he gifted Bisping the role, and how he then sought a percentage of revenue earned from Bisping.
“I auditioned, I won the part based on the audition,” Michael Bisping said. “Vin Diesel didn’t even know who I was – not a massive fight fan. I got the audition, and then at the Nate Diaz 2 press conference, they did in the Ultimate Fighter gym, Conor (McGregor) was asked, ‘Hey, what do you think about (Michael) Bisping getting that part in XXX, and then came off XXX and became champion of the world?’ And Conor said, ‘Well, I handed that to Bisping on a silver platter, and I didn’t event get a thank you, and, in fact, he owes me a percentage. …”
Admittedly, Michael Bisping claimed that he was petty when he predicted Eddie Alvarez to defeat McGregor at UFC 205 in November 2016, which then led to a series of threatening messages from the 33-year-old Dubliner.
“And anyway, then I got a slew of abusive and threatening messages off of Conor, I did,” Michael Bisping said. “I won’t go into detail, but I f*cking told him to watch his f*cking mouth that’s for sure. So yeah, anyway, there you go. That’s the story of the great love, romance between us two that finished.”