Michael Bisping is going to need a bigger grindstone for all those axes.
The undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world is one of the most outspoken and opinionated fighters on the roster. On his hit list this week was Nate Marquardt and Vitor Belfort, who are expected to throw down in the Brazilian legend’s retirement fight in the coming months.
His grudge with Vitor stems from that ferocious head kick that detached his retina and almost left him blind in one eye. Vitor was on Testosterone Replacement Therapy for the fight, which has since been banned by the promotion.
However, he has another issue entirely with Marquardt. The suggestion that Bisping had let down the sport by spitting at Jorge Rivera’s team at UFC 127 really irked him, especially considering Marquardt used TRT and served a five-month ban for using steroids.
The whole ‘part of God’s plan’ mentality also rubs him the wrong way.
The victorious @bisping is very unlikely hero but a hero all the same | @TheJivemaster https://t.co/MLyfw4jsfW
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 9, 2016
Bisping tore into Marquardt and fighters who attribute their performances inside the Octagon to some sort of predetermined plan of a higher power on his Believe You Me podcast. He hinted that this excuse displays disrespect towards your opponent and an unhealthy dollop of arrogance.
“Every time he loses, he has the arrogance to not say, Yeah, I was beaten by the better man,’ the arrogance to say, ‘It’s God’s plan, and this is God trying to teach me a lesson.’ Oh my God, I just can’t fathom the arrogance there. Rather than say, you know, the better guy got me on the night… ‘No, no. The better guy didn’t get me. This was God actually stepping in and teaching me a lesson through losing a UFC fight.”
“If you think that, you are out of your God damn mind. If there is a God, just for a second imagine that there’s a guy sat up there in the clouds… and he’s thinking about Nate Marquardt and his upcoming UFC fight, ‘yeah, he needs to learn t train a little harder. I’ll use my magic and make XYZ fighter beat him in this fight and Nate will get the message. He’ll interpret that arse-kicking as the message I’m sending down.’ I mean Jesus Christ. Is that not arrogance on the next level?”
Although he admitted he doesn’t believe in God, Bisping respects those who do. He did not mean to cause any offence with his comments, but he firmly feels that the idea of a religious deity focusing his efforts on the result of a UFC fight is absolute bollocks.
“If that’s God’s plan, then God needs to get his shit together and focus on the important things in life.”
Unsurprisingly, Bisping also had some choice words for fighters who use the Octagon interview to preach about their own religious beliefs.
Almost surprised, motherfuckers https://t.co/R4cWEtuEDT
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 30, 2017
“It’s the fucking preaching. At the end of the day, we fight in the UFC and that’s great. I love it, I’m very lucky, I’ve had a great career, I’ve earned some money, I’ve got a world championship belt in my house… great! Whoop de doo! In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that important.”
Bisping has a wonderfully grounded view of what he does for a living. In his eyes, he’s not doing Earth-shattering work that will lead to the betterment of mankind. He’s an entertainer, and that profession should be treated as such.
“We’re entertainers and to some people it appears cool. But, at the end of the day, we’re not really changing the world. We’re not curing cancer. We’re just out there, we’re stepping into a cage and we’re beating each other up. Some people, like Vitor, they get on their microphone and they spout about Jesus and being a good person, this and that, but I know these people, they’re fucking scumbags and they’re absolute hypocrites and they jump on the microphone and they have the audacity to preach to people?”
“Dude, you’re a cage fighter. You’re a fucking cage fighter. You’re not a priest, you’re not a politician, you didn’t cure cancer or anything like that, so stop the preachiness and just keep it in perspective. Good for you, say thank you, say ‘I love my family,’ say ‘I can’t wait to see my children,’ congratulations, thanks to everybody in attendance, but don’t start fucking ramming Jesus down my throat, pal. Don’t start telling me how I should live my life, because that shit pisses me off.”
‘The Count’ is so far away from sitting on the fence on most issues, the fence just looks like a solitary pixel on a plasma screen TV.
