By almost any measure, Michael Bisping had a very successful mixed martial arts career. Nonetheless, the first Englishman to win an Ultimate Fighting Championship title says there are a lot of things he’d change if he could.
Having officially hung up the gloves in May, the former middleweight champ has been enjoying retirement and his transition into life after fighting by securing an analyst role during the UFC on Fox fight cards. However, with the UFC’s pending move to ESPN next year, “The Count” revealed recently that he’ll be commentating UFC events going forward although nothing official has been announced yet.
The 39-year-old sat down with current UFC color commentator Joe Rogan on the “Joe Rogan Experience” and was asked by his host if there’s anything he would change if he could have a do-over in his career.
“A lot of things,” Bisping said. “If I could do it all over again, I’d do way more things. One, I wouldn’t balloon up between fights. Discipline between fights. I didn’t exercise enough of that in between fights. These days, I look after my body way more now than when I was fighting. So f*cking hypocritical. It’s so silly. Now, I don’t have the luxury of going through a fight camp to get in shape. Now I’ve got to stay in shape, simple as that. Whereas in the past I was like ‘yeah, I’ll have a pizza, I’ll have a few beers, I’ll have a dessert, I’ll eat whatever I want.’ Then when I’m in training camp I’d switch it on. But it’s not good for the body. So that would be one.
Bisping, whose career truly hit its stride after moving to California and training with coach Jason Parillo, also appeared to allude to that choice and wish he had done so sooner. “[There are] many things,” Bisping said. “I don’t really want to throw anyone under the bus or anything, but yeah. There’s things I would have changed. There was a group of people that I was involved with in England for a while. Definitely wouldn’t have wasted by time with those f*cking a*sholes.”