För snart 3 år sedan valde den brittiske mellanviktaren Michael Bisping att pensionera sig från MMA efter att ha förlorat mot Kelvin Gastelum. Nu berättar Bisping att han ångrar att han överhuvudtaget tog matchen.
Ångrar sista matchen
Under en intervju med “Submission Radio” berättade Bisping att han inte är helt nöjd över valet att ta den sista matchen i karriären men att han gjorde det på grund av den enorma summa pengar han erbjöds.
Anderson Silva failed a steroid test and Kelvin Gastelum needed another opponent. I was over-trained for GSP, and I was like, screw it, whatever, it is what it is, I’ll fly out there, get another payday. So, I went out there. So, listen, money’s one thing and legacy is another. You can’t buy a legacy. So, I do regret doing that Kelvin Gastelum fight, because I had no business doing that. I was over-trained. In fact, I didn’t train for that fight whatsoever. I was overtrained from the GSP one. Then I went on the piss for a couple of weeks, and then flew out to China with my mates, you know what I mean? He was training for the biggest fight of his life, I had already been choked out a couple of weeks ago. So, the conditions weren’t right. But there was a lot of money on the table, but I knew I was almost done. And for me, that’s why I got into this, I got into it to give my family a better life. And as I said, I won’t go into the actual number, but it was a big number, it was a huge number. And I’m like, alright, well I’ll go out and collect that, and I’ll fly out to China.
Skadat öga
Bisping fick även en fråga om den ögonskada han drogs med i slutet av sin karriär. Bisping förklarade att skadan innebar ett hinder för honom i oktagonen men att skadan innebar att han var tvungen att hitta en inkomst utanför MMA vilket han är glad för idag.
It certainly impacted my fight career, my depth perception was pretty much nonexistent. So, people always say, ‘How did you fight with pretty much one eye?’ And I always say the same answer: With great difficulty. And it was very difficult. In hindsight, I guess it was a blessing in disguise, because in 2013 I got all these troubles, and this is where it all started to happen, and then I knew I was on borrowed time. So, that gave me the mindset that I had to create a living, essentially, outside the octagon, because I was just all-in on fighting, and I was like, well, at any time I might get my license pulled away from fighting, so I’ve got to start opening doors. I started working on being an analyst, being a commentator, doing my podcast, really trying to ramp up my acting career, and just whatever business endeavors I could find myself or get involved with outside of the octagon. So it wasn’t ideal, and I wish I had two fully functioning eyes, but as I say, every cloud has a silver lining.
Sist vi fick se Bisping i oktagonen var då han förlorade mot Gastelum via knockout på UFC Shanghai den 25:e november 2017.
