Why Michael Bisping’s stunning title win at UFC 199 is no more than he deserves
Few gave him a chance, but Michael Bisping defied the odds to become the undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world
VERY few people can lay claim to being a UFC world champion. It’s the ultimate accolade for multi-discipline combat athletes across the world.
But only one person can lay claim to being the FIRST, and that’s what happened on Saturday night in Los Angeles, as Michael Bisping became the first British fighter to win a UFC title.
For Bisping, it represents just reward for a decade spent in the UFC.
He’s headlined UK events, been the standard bearer for the sport across Britain and put in countless hours of time talking to the UK media to help the UFC break into the consciousness of British sports fans.
But despite his sterling work outside the Octagon and his consistent success inside it, a title shot always seemed to elude him.
Whenever he got close to a title fight, he’d fall. Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and Vitor Belfort all defeated the Brit in fights that would have seen him propelled into a title bout.
Each time he was written off, but each time he came back, convinced that he’d eventually get his shot - and that when that opportunity came, he’d take it.
Bisping did the hard yards and laid the groundwork for the UFC on our side of the pond. To see him finally claim world championship gold was a sweet moment indeed
Simon Head: UFC/MMA Reporter
That’s because while the media were talking about whether Bisping would get a title shot, Bisping was focused on more than that - he wanted the title.
And here in Los Angeles he finally fulfilled what he said was his destiny.
There was something rather poetic about his win, too. For years Bisping has been criticised and mocked by fans and other fighters for not possessing the sort of one-punch knockout power to ever go all the way in this sport.
And his opponent at UFC 199, Luke Rockhold, was almost mocking in his dismissal of Bisping’s abilities ahead of the fight. He even said he’d finish the Brit in three minutes.
Well, the fight lasted three minutes 36 seconds, but it was Rockhold who was knocked out, as Bisping, fuelled by an unshakeable self-confidence and faith in his abilities, delivered the best performance of his 12-year, 36-fight career.
The sport of MMA, led by the UFC, has taken some time to take hold here in the UK. Indeed, it’s had to deal with its fair share of uneducated reporting and a press that has at times been unwilling to learn about MMA.
But over time people have gradually become switched on to this great sport, thanks in no small part to the recent meteoric rise of Conor McGregor.
But it was Bisping who did the hard yards and laid the groundwork for the UFC on our side of the pond.
And to see him finally claim world championship gold was a sweet moment indeed.
Before the fight UFC president Dana White told me that it would be massive for the UK if Bisping could somehow defeat Rockhold.
Well, he just did. And we can only hope that Bisping’s success encourages more people into the sport and inspires the next generation of British MMA stars.
Maybe a few years down the line we’ll have multiple world champions, just as we currently do in boxing.
But no matter how many world champs we eventually produce, there can only ever be one FIRST champion.
And that accolade goes to the man who deserves it more than any other athlete who’s pulled on those famous black four-ounce gloves.
Destiny called, Michael Bisping answered and ‘The Count’ is now the undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world.
