Thursday 6 October 2016 16:22, UK
Michael Bisping’s face bears the evidence of over a decade's physical toil - cauliflower ears, scars, and a disfigured eye that he insists remains safe to compete with. All of it has been worth it.
He didn't need the validation of his greatest moment - becoming Britain's first UFC champion this summer - to prove that his decision to dive head-first into a dangerous career-path was savvier than it seemed. Bisping was already the most high-profile British athlete that your average sports fan had never heard of.
"I'll retire as one of the greatest fighters to ever grace the Octagon, I'm already in the Hall of Fame, I'm already the champion, I've fought all over the world and I've broken lots of records," he told Sky Sports.
But that's only recently become the case.
For a decade he was a mouthy irritant to his American opponents, a visitor to their land who was good enough to remain but never great enough to threaten world champions. Now a golden championship belt is draped over him, and his thick Mancunian accent is occasionally punctuated by Americanisms. He lives in a California home befitting of a world champion and freely admits he won't move back to Manchester, but Bisping still looks more suited to the soggy north-west than the sunny west coast.
Full circle
"It was a vicious knockout. Everybody said 'he's finished, he's done' about me."
Seven years have passed but Bisping still stutters and breathes heavily when reminded about his most notable defeat, in July 2009. "I was 3-0 since dropping down to middleweight and I was going to fight for the world title if I beat Dan Henderson, but I didn't."
It was a vicious knockout. Everybody said 'he's finished, he's done' about me.
He has come full circle since suffering one of the worst knockouts in memory, and he will next welcome Henderson to Manchester with his newly-won world title at stake. The motivation is remembering the reaction of his inner circle after losing their first fight - his stigma as a nearly-man didn't erode until this year.
Who lost faith? "A lot of people who were close to me. They previously had my back and were pro-Michael Bisping. They said it was impossible to come back from such a bad knockout and be the same fighter. Heading into the next fight after Henderson, people didn't want to know me."
Left behind?
Britain's top UFC export can be confrontational company, perhaps understandably when grilled about his most high-profile setbacks. The same skills required for his day job seldom relate to an interview. But the significance of his recent world title achievement can't be contextualised without remembering defeats.
"He knew I won our fight," he said of a controversial points defeat against Chael Sonnen. Vitor Belfort permanently damaged his eye. He hilariously ridiculed Tim Kennedy - "He's two foot tall, he's ugly and he can't fight, he should get a job as a garden gnome" - but lost in lacklustre fashion. Two years ago, he was beaten by the younger, more athletic Luke Rockhold who went on to become champion.
Silva lining
"We've had parallel careers for 10 years and I've wanted to fight him on a number of occasions," Bisping told Sky Sports about confirmation he would meet former divisional king Anderson Silva, last February. "Of course I wanted him when he was the champion and he's no longer the champion. That said, I've always said I could beat Anderson."
[Anderson Silva had] fought a lot of mediocre opponents, guys that were terrified of him and were beaten before they started.
The quirk about Bisping's career, at the beginning of 2016, was that it lacked one stellar victory despite a plethora of respectable achievements. Silva, considered an all-time great, was travelling to London to provide Bisping with a chance to rubber-stamp his legacy.
"He's fought a lot of mediocre opponents, guys that were terrified of him and were beaten before they started," said Bisping with a healthy dose of disrespect for the greatest-ever middleweight champion. "They were looking for a way out, which is something we see in sports."
Silva gave Bisping the chance to look for a way out when the Brit's mouthpiece fell. A knee drew blood, but the end-of-the-round bell sounded. Silva celebrated a non-existent knockout - Bisping continued, and toughed out the win of his life.
Two weeks' notice
The phone rang with Bisping enjoying some downtime, filming a movie alongside Vin Diesel and Samuel L Jackson. 'Can you fight?' When? 'A fortnight'.
It's short-notice, so bittersweet, but I've worked a lifetime for this.
"It's not perfect circumstances but this is my lifestyle," he said about his first opportunity to challenge for a world title. "It's short-notice, so bittersweet, but I've worked a lifetime for this."
He would run every day, he claimed, and strenuously diet to make the weight limit. The problem? He was fighting Rockhold, who beat him once already.
"If we fought again I wouldn't need to keep my hands up," Rockhold quipped. A part-time model and California surfer boy, the champion was stark contrast to the macho Bisping. Three-and-a-half minutes in, two left hooks accounted for Rockhold and completed an unlikely tale.
Bisping's career never needed this summer's glorious epitaph to be remembered as pioneering. He is finally a champion of the cage, an accolade which carries more gravitas today than it did when his journey began a generation ago. Give up? No chance.
