Michael Bisping: ‘Honestly I Don’t Know If I’m Going to Fight Again’
Michael Bisping isn’t sold on a third fight with Luke Rockhold.
Actually to hear him tell it, Bisping isn’t sold on fighting anybody right now because he’s still contemplating whether or not he ever wants to compete again.
Bisping has been teasing his retirement for the past year with his original plan centered around competing at the UFC event in London this weekend and then calling it a career. When a deal couldn’t be reached for that card, Bisping decided that he wanted to take some time before making a final call on whether it was worth competing again or not.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to fight again,” Bisping said on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “I was going to fight in London, which is happening this weekend. I was supposed to fight but we couldn’t get the deal done and now it’s giving me more time to reflect. I don’t know, maybe I will, maybe I won’t [fight again].
“If a deal comes my way that is good enough, and by the way I’m not saying that as an insult to the UFC, they’ve got to run their business and I understand that and I’ve got to run mine. If it’s mutually beneficial to all parties included, then yeah I will fight. But if not, I’m happy with the way things were.”
The uncertainty about his future stems from Bisping’s reaction to the latest call out he received from Rockhold, who said he would retire if he loses to the outspoken British middleweight in their third fight.
Of course, Bisping is never short on words when it comes to Rockhold but according to him, a return to the Octagon has nothing to do with any particular opponent.
Instead, Bisping says he’s just got to figure it out for himself to decide if he wants to fight again or just go ahead and call it a career.
“The reason I say I don’t know, there’s a lot of things going on in my life right now,” Bisping said. “I’m very busy and of course you’ve got to want it and I do want it. I do enjoy it and I do miss being in fight camp and I think that’s one thing that all athletes have is the trouble of finally walking away. I find myself whenever I speak to athletes and former athletes, I ask them about their transition because it’s something I’m curious about but for me when I was younger, fighting was just a way to make money and I’ve been somewhat successful in that department.
“But I’m always scared of letting it go and saying goodbye because once you close the door, you close the door and you can never go back.”
Bisping is just wrapping up a guest stint on the CBS series ‘MacGyver’, which is the latest acting role for the former middleweight champion with previous roles appearing in ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Strike Back’ and ‘xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’.
Bisping has been keeping very busy with his acting career in addition to working for FOX where he serves as an analyst and part time co-host on “UFC Tonight”. All of that allows Bisping to put money in the bank without getting punched in the face so that’s allowed him a secondary career outside of fighting in the UFC.
“Who knows what the future’s going to hold,” Bisping said. “Maybe it’s going to be bright and rosy and all sunshine and rainbows. Maybe I’m going to have some dark f–king days and I wish I took that one last fight against Luke Rockhold. It’s a tough one to figure out.”
