Michael Bisping Announces Retirement
After nearly six months of contemplation, the Count is now out.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping officially announced his retirement on the newest edition of his Believe You Me podcast.
“So obviously I’ve teased this for a long time now, I might fight again, I might not. And unfortunately it’s not a fight that I’m announcing. I am going to announce my official retirement from mixed martial arts,” Bisping said.
Bisping has been open about his indecision ever since his back to back loses to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217, and a first round knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum later in the month at UFC Shanghai. Bisping admitted during the podcast that he considered retiring if he lost at UFC 199, but his plans changed when he won the middleweight title from Luke Rockhold.
Bisping, who has had longtime issues with his eye, had it compounded during his loss to Gastelum. Bisping confided that he started seeing “flashes” out of his left eye at a party in the aftermath of his loss to Gastelum, and those issues have persisted in the months since.
“I realized there’s no flash going on; it’s just my eye, and every time I look left, it flashes. And it still does it now when it’s dark,” Bisping said. “It’s light now so I can’t see it. So I started freaking out, thinking oh my God, I don’t believe this, I’ve got a detached retina in my good eye. I have problems with my bad eye, it doesn’t look good, so obviously I was kind of freaking out.”
Bisping said doctors diagnosed him with a vitreous detachment in his left eye, a condition that puts him at an increased risk for another detached retina. Bisping said he came to his decision to retired after watching the film Journeyman on a plane , following UFC’s debut in Liverpool
“I was watching this movie last night and I just thought, it ain’t worth it,” Bisping said. “It ain’t worth it. I mean, what else am I going to do? I’ve won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins, I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve. What’s the point in flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point? I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve, and fortunately now I’ve used my platform to open other doors. You know, you’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old, the time is now. So, I want to say, first of all, thank you to my wife. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. She was incredible every single step of the way. My children. My dad. My dad was amazing. And of course everyone in the U.K. and around the world that supported me.
“So, yeah, there you go. Great career. That’s that. Thank you everybody.”