Michael Bisping
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| Michael Bisping | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Nickname | The Count |
| Height | 6 ft. 1 in. (185 cm) |
| Weight | 185 lb |
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | February 28, 1979 |
| Fighting out of | Liverpool, England |
| Town of birth | Cyprus |
| Team/Association | Wolfslair MMA Academy |
| Fighting style | Kickboxing, Jujutsu |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Wins | 16 |
| By knockout | 11 |
| By submission | 4 |
| By decision | 1 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (born February 28, 1979 in Cyprus) is an English Mixed martial artist (MMA) from Manchester. Holding a professional record of 16 wins and 1 loss, he currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and is the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion, and former Cage Rage light heavyweight champion. He's also the current FX3 light-heavyweight champion. To date, he has yet to be finished in an MMA bout, and his only loss was a contentious split decision at the hands of Rashad Evans.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early training and competition
Bisping was born in Cyprus in 1979, but moved to Clitheroe, Lancashire, England when he was a child. Taking an early interest in martial arts, Bisping began training in a traditional form of jujutsu known as Yawara Ryu under Paul Lloyd Davies when he was 8 years old.[1] In 1994, at the age of 15, Bisping competed as an amateur in England's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO), organized by Davies.[2]
At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order "to pursue real life".[3] But less than a year later Bisping began training kickboxing and karate on the advice of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym, who saw potential in the young fighter. Bisping enjoyed a short, but successful, kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title, and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title.[2] After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time. Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, Bisping was forced to abandon his full-time training for a "real job". Bisping worked in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer, a postman, a tiler, a plasterer,a double-glazing door salesman, and also a fairly successful DJ around the north-west club scene.[4]
As his days of competition faded away, Bisping grew to miss fighting and training, and in 2003, he tracked down his old coach Paul Lloyd Davies. Davies, who was then coaching at Master Salahs mixed martial arts gym in Manchester, encouraged Bisping to visit his gym, and it was there that Bisping first learned about the new sport of mixed martial arts. After one day of sparring, Davies offered to train and manage Bisping as an MMA fighter.[5]
[edit] Mixed martial arts
Bisping made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on April 4, 2004, taking a 0:38 armbar victory over Steve Mathews. Just one month later, Bisping scored his first knockout against John Weir at UK MMA Challenge 7: Rage & Fury. In his third MMA match, Bisping became the Cage Rage light heavyweight champion at Cage Rage 7, defeating Mark Epstein by technical knockout. Bisping went on to defend his championship title in a rematch against Epstein at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified Bisping as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in England. It also earned him the moniker "The Great British Hope", by UFC.com.[6]
At The Ultimate Fight Club UK: Natural Instinct on January 29, 2005, Bisping made his cage kickboxing debut against David Brown in a light heavyweight contest. With Brown badly cut, Bisping picked up the win via medical stoppage in round two.
Bisping, who trains with the Wolfslair MMA Academy, the professional fight team of Cage Warriors, made his debut for the promotion at Ultimate Force on April 30, 2005, defeating Dave Radford to win the vacant Cage Warriors light heavyweight title. Bisping then competed in another light heavyweight cage kickboxing contest, against Cyrille Diabaté at CWFC: Strike Force 1 on May 21, 2005, losing to Diabaté via decision after the end of the first extra round. He captured FX3 light-heavyweight title on June 18, 2005 and was reigning on UK's major federations. In his first Cage Warriors title defense, Bisping defeated Miika Mehmet at CWFC: Strike Force 2, on July 16, 2005.
In September 2005, Cage Rage stripped the light heavyweight title from Bisping due to "management issues that Michael currently has",[7] though Cage Warriors however stated that "Bisping was willing to defend his title but is being punished by Cage Rage due to his Wolfslair and Cage Warriors links".[8] Towards the end of 2005, Bisping continued to successfully defend the Cage Warriors title against Jakob Lovstad[9], and Ross Pointon in the CWFC: Strike Force series of events, leading to a record of 10 wins and no losses.
[edit] In the UFC
In early 2006 Bisping was featured on the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter reality television series as a contestant training under Tito Ortiz. He won a preliminary bout against Kristian Rothaermel by TKO, which he followed with a semi-final win against Ross Pointon, by submission after landing a flying knee followed by a series of strikes. In the finals, Bisping defeated Josh Haynes by way of TKO at 4:14 into the second round, making Bisping the second light heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter television series.
Five months after his victory in the TUF 3 finals, Bisping was slated to fight Eric Schafer at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale. Bisping was forced to withdraw from the contest because of problems acquring his visa.[10] The fight was re-scheduled and held on December 30 at UFC 66. Bisping defeated Schafer by way of TKO at 4:24 in the first round.[11]
On April 21, 2007 Bisping scored a TKO win over Elvis Sinosic at UFC 70 in Manchester, England.[12]
Bisping was a special guest referee at the Cage Warriors events Enter The Wolfslair on March 5, 2005, and CWFC: Strike Force 6 on May 27, 2006.[13]
On September 8, 2007 Bisping faced former Ultimate Fighter 3 rival Matt Hamill and won a controversial split decision after 3 rounds. The fight took place in London, England. Of the three judges, the two American judges found in favor of Bisping with the sole British judge favoring of Hamill. Bisping's next match at UFC 78 against fellow Ultimate fighter winner Rashad Evans resulted in his first and only loss, via split decision - 29-28 29-28 28-29 in favour of Evans.[14]
[edit] Move to middleweight
After his loss to Rashad Evans, Bisping announced his decision to drop down to the middleweight division,[15] and on April 19th 2008 at UFC 83 Bisping made his debut as a Middleweight against Charles McCarthy. Bisping won by TKO as McCarthy was unable to continue after the first round due to a forearm injury he sustained after receiving an unanswered series of knees and uppercuts from Bisping.[16]
Bisping's next fight, and second at 185lbs, was on June 7th 2008 at UFC 85 in London, against Jason Day. Bisping won the fight in dominant fashion in the first round, securing two takedowns and applying a high paced pressure, it was his second first round TKO in a row.[17]
Bisping is set to headline UFC 89 on October 18, in a matchup against Chris Leben.[18] Bisping was originally set to face Leben in his previous bout, but Jason Day stepped in as Leben was incarcerated for 35 days and unable to compete.[19]
[edit] Personal life
Bisping has two children, Callum and Ellie with his wife, Rebecca.[20] Bisping's hero is Randy Couture. To this day Michael has family scattered everywhere. He has family still in Germany, England, and the United States of America.[4]
[edit] Mixed martial arts record
Bisping is the only British tite holder in UFC history due to his Ultimate Fighter win.
| Professional record breakdown | ||
| 17 matches | 16 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 11 | 0 |
| By submission | 4 | 0 |
| By decision | 1 | 1 |
| Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 16-1 |  Jason Day |
TKO (Punches) | UFC 85 - Bedlam | 7 June 2008 | 1 | 3:42 |  London, England |
|
| Win | 15-1 |  Charles McCarthy |
TKO (Strikes) | UFC 83 - Serra vs. St. Pierre II | 19 April 2008 | 1 | 5:00 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
UFC Middleweight Debut |
| Loss | 14-1 | Rashad Evans |
Decision (Split) | UFC 78 - Validation | 17 November 2007 | 3 | 5:00 | Newark, NJ, United States |
|
| Win | 14-0 | Matt Hamill |
Decision (Split) | UFC 75 - Champion vs. Champion | 8 September 2007 | 3 | 5:00 | London, England |
|
| Win | 13-0 |  Elvis Sinosic |
TKO (Strikes) | UFC 70 - Nations Collide | 21 April 2007 | 2 | 1:20 | Manchester, England |
Won Fight of the Night Honors |
| Win | 12-0 | Eric Schafer |
TKO (Strikes) | UFC 66 - Liddell vs Ortiz II | 30 December 2006 | 1 | 4:24 | Las Vegas, NV, United States |
|
| Win | 11-0 | Josh Haynes |
TKO (Strikes) | UFC - Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale | 24 June 2006 | 2 | 4:14 | Las Vegas, NV, United States |
Won The Ultimate Fighter 3 light heavyweight contest |
| Win | 10-0 | Ross Pointon |
Submission (Armbar) | CWFC - Strike Force 4 | 26 November 2005 | 1 | 2:00 | England |
|
| Win | 9-0 |  Jakob Lovstad |
Submission (Strikes) | CWFC - Strike Force 3 | 1 October 2005 | 1 | 1:10 | England |
|
| Win | 8-0 |  Miika Mehmet |
TKO (Corner Stoppage) | CWFC - Strike Force 2 | 16 July 2005 | 1 | 3:01 | England |
|
| Win | 7-0 | Alex Cook |
Submission (Choke) | FX3 - Xplosion | 18 June 2005 | 1 | 3:21 | England |
Won FX3 light heavyweight championship |
| Win | 6-0 | Dave Radford |
TKO | CWFC - Ultimate Force | 30 April 2005 | 1 | 2:46 | England |
|
| Win | 5-0 | Mark Epstein |
KO | CR 9 - No Mercy | 27 November 2004 | 3 | 4:43 | England |
|
| Win | 4-0 | Andy Bridges |
KO | P & G 3 - Glory Days | 7 August 2004 | 1 | 0:45 | England |
|
| Win | 3-0 | Mark Epstein |
TKO | CR 7 - Battle of Britain | 10 July 2004 | 2 | 1:27 | England |
Won Cage Rage light heavyweight championship |
| Win | 2-0 | John Weir |
TKO | UKMMAC 7 - Rage & Fury | 30 May 2004 | 1 | 0:50 | England |
|
| Win | 1-0 | Steve Mathews |
Submission (Armbar) | P & G 2 - Battle of the Ages | 10 April 2004 | 1 | 0:38 | England |
[edit] References
- ^ Michael Bisping in profile | Michael Bisping | UFC | MMA | The Ultimate Fighter | The Sun |Sport|UFC
- ^ a b Michael Bisping
- ^ Pedro Wrobel (2005). "Cage Rage Champ Bisping Eyes Bright Future". Sherdog. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.
- ^ a b http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/2311234/My-Sport-Michael-Bisping.html
- ^ Michael Bisping - The Count - Tapout
- ^ UFC® : Ultimate Fighting Championship®
- ^ Cage Rage (2005). "Cage Rage strips "The Count" Mike Bisping of his Cage Rage British Light-Heavyweight Title". www.cagerage.tv. Retrieved on September 17, 2006.
- ^ Cage Warriors (2005). "CWFC Statement Concerning Mike Bisping". www.cagewarriors.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2006.
- ^ Bisping Defends CageWarriors Title, Izidro Wins Belt
- ^ Schafer-Bisping is Off - MMA on Tap
- ^ Bisping beats Eric Schafer | The Sun |Sport|UFC
- ^ UFC 70 Results and Action Photo Gallery
- ^ cage Warriors (2006). "Michael "The Count" Bisping To Referee At Strike Force 6". www.cagewarriors.com. Retrieved on September 17, 2006.
- ^ UFC: Evans wins split decision over Bisping
- ^ UFC (2007). "Count’s move gives middleweights new blood". www.ufc.com. Retrieved on December 14th, 2007.
- ^ Bisping fells "Chainsaw" Charles in first round knockout - Clitheroe Today
- ^ Michael Bisping beats Jason Day at UFC 85|MMA|Mixed Martial Arts| | The Sun |Sport|UFC
- ^ http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6613&zoneid=13
- ^ BISPING VS LEBEN AT UFC 89 IN BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - MMA WEEKLY - Mixed Martial Arts & UFC News, Photos, Rankings & more
- ^ [http://www.wilmslowexpress.co.uk/entertainment/magazine/s/603726_a_bit_about__michael_bisping Ideally I would spend every day ... with my family (wife Rebecca and children Callum, aged five, and four year-old Ellie), and training ]
[edit] External links
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