UFC commentator and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping has nothing but respect for Anderson Silva. Silva, widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, was not middleweight champion when Bisping was on his way up, but the first British UFC champ told MMAJunkie, it was as big a moment for him as a title fight.
“Obviously for me, fighting Anderson Silva, that was a huge deal to me. 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.
Bisping: Anderson Silva Fight “as good as world title fight”
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.”
Bisping discussed the fight at length, and how it prepared him to go on to dethrone Luke Rockhold and claim the middleweight championship.
“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. I was doing good then Anderson catches me with something, my mouthpiece 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 mouthpiece.’ 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.”
Bisping eventually won the fight via decision, and went on to win the UFC middleweight belt. Did you watch Bisping vs Silva at the time? Did it feel like a title fight? Let us know in the comments.
