UFC commentator and former champion Michael Bisping took to the Fighter vs the Writer podcast to offer some fascinating insight into the psyche of an elite combat athlete, and why Conor might be lashing out online ever since his brutal loss to Dustin Poirier.
Bisping explained that, in order to fight at the highest level, one requires unalienable self-belief. “Fighters, we have to have this self-belief in ourselves that borders on the delusional.
Michael Bisping Explains Why “Delusional” McGregor Lashes Out Online
I guess I had that. I know for a fact when I was fighting, I was always proclaiming I was going to be champ one day. I know not everyone agreed with that, in fact quite the opposite.”
Bisping also admitted that, when he was facing setbacks of his own on his way to the title, he may have been a little “delusional” himself.
“People used to think I was delusional. But you have to have that. You have to have that belief in yourself. If you don’t have that then you’re probably not going to go very far as a fighter.
Every time I lost a fight, yeah, I would be realistic, but I’d always say ‘well, if I did this differently I know I could beat him’ or ‘this is what went wrong in the training camp, I was over-training, my weight cut went bad,’” Bisping said. “All in all, what are those things? They’re excuses. You make up excuses as to why you should have beat the guy.
Right now, Conor’s got the perfect excuse — ‘I broke my leg … I know for a fact in Round 2, I would have come back and beaten him’ — and he’s not only saying that, he believes that. He has to put that narrative out there for the entire world.
It’s the competitive nature of human beings, certainly of fighters. That’s why it does border on delusional, but I’ve been there myself. You have to have that.”
Bisping’s level-head response provides stark contrast to Conor’s own ferocious tirades, both at the fight itself and on social media in its aftermath. Even Michael Bisping earned a steaming dose of McGregor’s ire.
““For [Conor], right now, that’s the best way he can deal with losing these fights. I’m not making excuses for him, far from it, because I was at the receiving end of some of his bullsh*t recently as well.
But I think for him to still believe — and I don’t have a relationship with him, we used to be somewhat friendly, we don’t talk anymore, so I’m not speaking from experience or anything like that, just speaking in general as a fighter — he has to believe in his mind that fight was competitive.”
Do you think Conor McGregor needs to believe that his fights were competitive, or should he accept the losses and move on? Should he return to the UFC, or concentrate on his non-fighting-related business interests? Let us know in the comments.
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