Former undisputed UFC middleweight kingpin, Michael Bisping, admits he laments missing out on a potential outing in Japanese-led promotion, Pride FC, during his storied career.
Bisping, a former undisputed middleweight titleholder and victor of The Ultimate Fighter, never departed the UFC since his landing in the Octagon back in 2006. He called time on his tenure back in 2018.
Bisping ended his stint with back-to-back stoppage losses to Georges St-Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum on short notice. He has since turned his talents to analysis and commentary work as a color-caller for the organization.
Labelled on many occasions a ‘company man’ for the UFC alongside fellow ex-champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Daniel Cormier, Bisping has been accused of towing the promotion’s line time and time again since his retirement.
But this week, Bisping admitted one part of his UFC career makes him lament his time with the promotion.
The British veteran has claimed he would have loved the opportunity to make the move to fight with the now-defunct Pride FC. Incidentally, a couple of notable names have made a similar statement before him.
“I wanted to fight for Pride,” Bisping said on his official YouTube channel. “I’m kind of disappointed that I never got to do that before signing with the UFC. The UFC was always my goal, but Pride, there was just something so cool about it.
“Seeing the fighters jump up in the air, doing the stomps. The soccer kicks, the knees to the head of the grounded opponent, the 70,000 fans in the building, the woman screaming on the microphone (Lenne Hardt), and the cool entrances,” he added.
“Mirko Cro Cop walking 0ut to Wild Boys and all that type of sh*t. It was a great show. It was unbelievable. You would get a yellow card for not fighting hard enough and stuff like that. And there were a lot of great fighters, legendary fighters.
“Now, of course, we had a lot of UFC fighters go over to Pride and compete, and they did quite well. Chuck Liddell went out there and fought Quinton Rampage Jackson and got beaten quite badly.”
But given his recent admission of damage suffered in the Octagon, Bisping may have done well to think twice about competing under such lax rules in Pride FC.
Michael Bisping deals with constant reminder of UFC run
Subject to soccer kicks and knees to the head of grounded opponents in Pride FC, if he made the transition, it seems Michael Bisping had already suffered more than enough damage for one career in combat sports.
Dropping thunderous stoppage losses to both Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort to boot, Bisping is still living with the effects to this day.
Transitioning to acting to boot since his retirement — on both the big and small screens — the Brit admitted he was struggling to deal with damage suffered in his long and travelled career.
“As a man who has been punched in the head far too many times, I’m like, ‘Sh*t, this is challenging.'” Bisping continued.
“There’s one of these directors, and he’s been great… He’s sending me clips — funnily enough, you’ve just gotta read the script. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. And you start to really understand the story.”
