Tuesday 29 May 2018 14:33, UK
And so, the old warhorse with the big mouth has stepped aside to let others do the fighting and shouting, writes James Dielhenn. Michael Bisping has scrapped for an important place in history that wasn’t always guaranteed.
He was on a movie set two years ago, focusing on a second career with longevity beyond fighting, when a phone call arrived that would change Bisping's legacy. It was ill-timed.
"It's not perfect circumstances but this is my lifestyle," Bisping told Sky Sports just an hour after he was informed, in a panicked call, that he would replace the injured challenger to the UFC middleweight championship. The fight was in less than three weeks, he wasn't fit, and his mind was elsewhere.
"I've got two-and-a-half weeks - my weight isn't too bad so I'll have to go on an extreme diet, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Two-and-a-half weeks of intense, crazy work.
"This is my destiny, I love the way it's come together."
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Bisping, then 37, won the championship that night in California, appropriately the state where his second life began after growing up in Lancashire and watching a crazy, new sport develop in America. The victory, a notable upset because the champion, Luke Rockhold, had previously beaten him, gave Bisping validation that he had desperately sought for 12 years.
The legacy he leaves in retirement reads; world champion, a successful defence in his home city, and the joint-most UFC wins ever (20).
Delve deeper - the teak-tough Bisping has clambered off his backside to win six fights, more than anyone else, and achieved everything after suffering one of the most brutal knockouts ever. Re-watching the punch that Dan Henderson hit him with is wince-inducing. He has been bloodied and cut, and beaten nine times, but a relevant contender for over a decade in a sport that chews up champions and spits them out before their hype-trains have even got into fifth gear.
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Bisping has the innate single-mindedness necessary to anyone who succeeds in MMA, so perhaps he will only realise the significance of his contribution in popularising his sport when he finally relaxes in retirement.
He wasn't spreading the gospel word for the benefit of others during his pomp, that's for sure. But the countless hours of flying to and from the UK to act as the UFC mouthpiece is among the most important work the organisation has done in that market.
His ability to charm the 'cage-fighting' naysayers for the past decade while explaining the legitimate athletic possibilities behind a career in MMA has helped the UFC soften their image. Money could not buy his authenticity.
Bisping's comfort and eruditeness on his specialised subject will lend itself well to a post-fight career, and once helped to launch his day job as a UFC competitor. In the early 2000s when the sport was largely constrained to the United States, he was a pantomime bad guy with a British accent and the wit to stir American critics into a frenzy.
He was famous or infamous, depending on your allegiance, in those early days. It made Bisping the ideal representative to fight across the globe and his career is uniquely well-travelled. He is unbeaten in eight British cities, has fought in seven North American states or provinces, and seven countries on five continents.
He went to Australia three times (a home from home, where his wife is from) and even fought in Macao and Shanghai. Bisping didn't turn down fights, and went where he was told to go.
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Bisping didn't suffer fools but was a dream interviewee, speaking honestly and brazenly. An American twang developed over time but he is fiercely proud of his Lancashire roots, even if he now lives 5,000 miles from a decent hotpot.
The eye injury sustained in a 2013 fight against Vitor Belfort is noticeable, and in all likelihood, worse than he let on. Bisping chose to fight on and achieved his greatest moments severely hampered. In the end, his final two fights last November were effectively ended by left handed punches that he couldn't properly see.
"After the [Kelvin] Gastelum fight, I went to a party with all my team," Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast this week. "We went to a club, and because it was dark, I kept seeing this flash out of the corner of my good eye. I realised there's no flash going on. It's just my eye, and every time I look left, it flashes.
"And it still does it now when it's dark. It's light now so I can't see it. So I started freaking out, thinking oh my God, I don't believe this, I've got a detached retina in my good eye. I have problems with my bad eye, it doesn't look good, so obviously I was kind of freaking out."
Thankfully health has been prioritised over the buzz of one more fight, which was mooted for a long time. He retires on the back of a successful weekend for MMA in the UK.
Bisping has nothing left to prove, aged 39 with a 30-9 record. He was a champion inside the cage, and championed the sport outside of it.
