Former UFC middleweight champion and colour commentator, Michael Bisping has shared his thoughts regarding recent footage that emerged of former Bellator middleweight and GLORY champion, Joe Schilling’s alleged involvement in an altercation in a bar over the course of last weekend — after he himself was assaulted during a trip to New Orleans this week.
Bisping, who shared a story of how he was attacked and punch by a man in New Orleans over the weekend on a public street — explained how the man in question asked Bisping to stop filming, before the Manchester favourite explained how he didn’t need his permission to film in a public place. During the verbal exchange, which subseqeuntly turned physical, Bisping explained that the man punched him in the face — with what he described as the softest punch he’s ever taken. In response to the strike, Bisping claims he simply “laughed and walked away” from the situation.
Earlier this week, footage emerged of former Bellator middleweight and renowned kickboxer, Schilling involed in an altercation with a man at a steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida — where he appears to throw two punches at the man, who later indentified himself as Justin Balboa — rendering him unconscious. Schilling later claimed that the Balboa was using racial slurs as he sang a rap song
Reacting to the footage of Schilling knocking the man unconscious, Bisping agreed with comedian, Luis J. Gomez that Schilling can’t knock someone unconscious if their if their intoxicated for that reasoning — comparing it to his decision to walk away from his confrontation.
“I hope he (Joe Schilling) doesn’t get sued because, unfortunately, that is the culture that we live in — and certainly if you’ve got some kind of spotlight on you, and you’re a professional like him, you know,” Bisping said. “Fingers crossed it doesn’t go down that path.“
“But I remember, it reminds me — and this is kinda what he (Schilling) would be dealing with — when I was 16, I got into a fight — I got into a lot of fights but I was arrested for one when I was 16. And if was self-defence, the guy was being a d*ckhead and whatever — I’m not gonna go into the details ‘casue it’s not important. I ended up getting charged by the police and I went to court.“
“And when I went to court, this is the relavent part — I put my case forward and, you know, he was starting on me and he was in my face and he looked like he wanted to fight and all the rest of it so I punched him and the judge said, ‘Because of your martial arts training, you perceive levels of threats differently from the average man.’ And it’s actually a fair point… you’re a professional, you’re used to this.“
Bisping explained how he didn’t want to throw Schilling under the bus, and that maybe Balboa was being an “arsehole” but questioned if he actually desevered to be knocked out.
“That’s what the judge said — and I’m not trying to throw Joe Schilling under the bus because he’s a f*cking solid guy and maybe that guy was a total d*ckhead — he looked like a d*ckhead, he looked like a douchebag. But I don’t think he deserved to get knocked out though.“