It’s over. One of the biggest names in the UFC has retired.
Former middleweight champion Michael Bisping achieved in his UFC tenure what most never will. In addition to crushing Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title he also won The Ultimate Fighter season 3 making for one heck of a Cinderella story.
He fought in the Octagon a record 29 times with 20 wins tying him with Georges St. Pierre and Donald Cerrone. He has literally accomplished almost everything he wanted to do and apparently it was good enough to make retirement an easy decision.
Bisping spoke with MMAJunkie…
It ain’t worth it. What else am I going to do? I won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins. I’ve done everything I set out to achieve
What’s the point of flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point? … I’ve used my platform to open other doors. You’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old – the time is now.
I was watching this movie last night, and I just thought, ‘It ain’t worth it. It ain’t worth it. I mean, what else am I going to do? I’ve won the belt. I’ve had tons of wins. I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve. What’s the point in flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point? I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve, and fortunately, now I’ve used my platform to open other doors.
You know, you’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old. The time is now. So, I want to say, first of all, thank you to my wife. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. She was incredible every single step of the way. My children, my dad — my dad was amazing. And of course, everyone in the U.K. and around the world that supported me.
The Count will go down as a legend of the sport along with the likes of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Rich Franklin, GSP, Anderson Silva and Matt Hughes.
Well fought, Michael.