Fighting former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in 2016 was the most prestigious opportunity to date in Michael Bisping’s career.
Bisping (30-9 MMA, 20-9 UFC) had built a great resume up to that point, but a title fight alluded him. The Brit lost a couple of pivotal fights to the likes of Luke Rockhold and Chael Sonnen, which forced him to build himself back up time and time again.
So getting to headline UFC Fight Night 84 in his home country against one of the greatest fighters of all time in Silva was as good as it would get for Bisping – or so he thought.
“Obviously for me, fighting Anderson Silva, that was a huge deal to me,” Bisping told Burt Watson in MMA Junkie’s “Legend 2 Legend” series. “I’d never fought for the belt back then, didn’t think I was ever gonna get the chance. Obviously with my eye injury and my window of opportunity closing and my window of vision closing, as well – pardon the pun.
“So when I got the opportunity to fight Anderson Silva, for me, this was as good as a world title fight. I looked up to and I admired Anderson Silva so much, but I always thought I could beat him. I always thought I had a good style. I thought I had it figured out, and I wasn’t afraid of him.”
He continued, “In that training camp, I trained as if it was my world title fight and in the fight, the fight was going down just the way we had it planned, just the way we thought it would. We know Anderson plays a lot of games when he’s in there. He’s very crafty. He’s got so much experience. He works on the psychology, he tries to bully people emotionally and psychologically so you don’t fight to the best of your ability.”
Bisping outlasted Silva, but the win didn’t come without adversity. In the closing seconds of Round 3, Bisping was distracted by his dropped mouthpiece, only to be met by a thunderous flying knee that sent him to the canvas. As Silva celebrated on top of the octagon thinking he’d won, a bloodied and dazed Bisping miraculously made his way back to his stool and answered the bell for the final rounds, winning the fight on the judges’ scorecards.
“The fight was going well, kind of dropped him in the first round, dropped him in the second round, landed some good ground-and-pound, and the third round was going my way, as well,” Bisping said. “I was doing good then Anderson catches me with something, my mouth piece flies out – this is my bad eye (points to right eye), so Anderson’s in front of me, and I’m backing away, and I know the rules.
“I have to wait until there’s a lull in the action and for my money, there’s a lull in the action, and I’m backing away, and I’m like, ‘I’ve got no mouthpiece in.’ Anderson’s coming on the attack, but I’m backing off, so I turn and I look at Herb Dean and go, ‘Herb, my mouth piece.’ And I point at it on the floor, but as I said, this eye doesn’t work very well, so when I turned there, Anderson’s there (right side), and I couldn’t see him, and then when I looked back, Anderson’s in mid-air, boom! Lands a beautiful flying knee.”
The win over Silva marked Bisping’s third straight, opening the door for a short-notice title fight at UFC 199 against Rockhold, who already submitted him years prior. A big underdog in the fight, Bisping pulled off a massive upset by knocking out Rockhold, finally realizing his dream of becoming a UFC champion.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/05/ufc-news-michael-bisping-reflects-anderson-silva-fight