Michael Bisping officially announced today via UFC.com that he will be dropping down from the UFC’s light heavyweight division to their middleweight division.
“Even though I’ve never fought at middleweight, I’ve gone back and forth with the decision to go down pretty much my whole career,” Bisping said. “Even from my very first pro fight (April 2004), people were telling me that I was a little too small for the light heavies. But I kept winning and, at least before I stepped up to the UFC, I was winning easily so I didn’t really take much notice.
Bisping’s move does not come as a surprised as it has been widely speculated that it was only a matter of time until Bisping made to the move to 185 lbs. Before his most recent fight, a loss to Rashad Evans, Bisping said he would drop down in weightclasses should he lose.
Dana thought it was a great idea, he said I’d be ‘a monster’ down at middleweight. In fact all sorts of people like Rampage (with whom Bisping is close) were telling me this was the best thing for my career. Really, I knew middleweight was the place to be. When I went to train with Rampage in America over the summer, when we’d go eat he’d have half a lettuce leaf; I’d have a pizza or a couple of foot-long Subways and a couple of sneaky cookies.
Even though I train as hard, if not harder, than anyone else for a fight, I wasn’t making sacrifices like other fighters do. I’ve had world class nutritionists like (boxer) Ricky Hatton’s strength coach Kerry Kayes tell me I could be so much stronger at middleweight, so I was getting this same advise from all sides.
Bisping moves from an extremely stacked light heavyweight division where he most likely would not see a title shot for several years, if ever, to a middleweight division that is in desperate need of talent. Anderson Silva is the current cream of the crop at 185 lbs, and it took much sweet-talking from the UFC brass to convince Dan Henderson to drop to middleweight last month. With former middleweight poster boy Rich Franklin still sitting on two defeats to Anderson Silva, the UFC will need a title challenger after Hendo and the Spider finally meet.
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Good move if he can make the weight. Walking around at 211 doesn’t seem that big of a stretch because most fighters now are cutting that much but if you never had to cut weight it could be tough. I still don’t think he can beat even franklin much less Anderson but the middle weight class does need some mor depth.
[quote post="1070"] I still don’t think he can beat even franklin much less Anderson but the middle weight class does need some mor depth[/quote]
I agree MAD. Bisping will bring more depth to Middle weight division, but I really do not see him being able to contend for the title. No matter how I look at it, I cannot see Bisping competing against Franklin,Hendo or Silva. Unless he is able to really improve his wrestling he will just become a steping stone for other fighters. Maybe he can try the WEC.
I agree with you guys about Bisping, hes a long way form a title shot, but you gotta understand.. Bisping has only really been fighting for 3 years and since TUF its just over a year in the UFC. Compared to someone like Forrest Griffin whos been fighting since 2001 and hes just now coming into focus as a fighter. Who knows how he could blossom in the future, especially when guys like Franklin, Hendo and Silva start to wind down after a few more years.
I think Bisping should abandon his team and seek training with some of the best in the world if hes really serious about becoming a champ one day. Theres a ton of great camps out there, loyalty to your own guys is great, but if he wants to reach that next level hes gotta make that move in the gym first.
i wonder how much years hendo gots in him hes like37
CHECK THIS ***** **** OUT YO… RYAN GRACIE TURNS UP DEAD IN HIS PRISON CELL… WHAT KINDA ***** **** IS THAT… WASNT HE A **** UP ANYWAY…???
[quote comment="12514"]CHECK THIS ***** **** OUT YO… RYAN GRACIE TURNS UP DEAD IN HIS PRISON CELL… WHAT KINDA ***** **** IS THAT… WASNT HE A **** UP ANYWAY…???[/quote]
yeah im not 100% sure but i have heard different rumors of him being a bit of a bad asss, you know the kinda dude who is in and out of jail every year. this is the first ive heard of this though wow.
Check this report out on Ryan Gracie:
http://www.mmatko.com/ryan-gracie-found-dead-in-jail-cell-after-wild-day/
I guess next year would be a good year for MW div. they got Henderson, bisping, franklin,tanner…….hopefully UFC can get Filho or dennis Kang now that would really make that div deep
So basically, am I to understand that after Henderson fights Anderson, Bisping is all they have left? that doesn’t seem like much prospect for the future.
Great move for Bisping.
I wonder if Hamill is gonna chase Bisping down to Middle or if he will keep trying his luck at 205.
I guess this makes sense for Bisping… it would make sense for Rashad and Hamill as well because I cannot see any of the three of them winning Gold in the 205… problem is I can see Anderson Silva beating all three of them pretty badly at 185 … oh well I guess the Middleweight division needs some lambs to throw at the champ for sacrifice because the LHW is already stacked..
[quote comment="12533"]I wonder if Hamill is gonna chase Bisping down to Middle or if he will keep trying his luck at 205.
I guess this makes sense for Bisping… it would make sense for Rashad and Hamill as well because I cannot see any of the three of them winning Gold in the 205… problem is I can see Anderson Silva beating all three of them pretty badly at 185 … oh well I guess the Middleweight division needs some lambs to throw at the champ for sacrifice because the LHW is already stacked..[/quote]
SEEMS LIKE A TOP A+ LEVEL FIGHTERS ARE BECOMING CHAMPS AND ALL THE B LEVEL TUF FIGHTERS AND OTHERS THAT COME INTO THE LEAGUE NOW REALLY HAS NO ****** CHANCE SO THEY DROP WEIGHT… THEN WHEN THAT DOSENT WORK … THEY EVENTUALLY GO FIGHT FOR A DIFFERENT PROMOTION… WHATCHALL MOFOES THINK?
[quote comment="12536"][quote comment="12533"]I wonder if Hamill is gonna chase Bisping down to Middle or if he will keep trying his luck at 205.
I guess this makes sense for Bisping… it would make sense for Rashad and Hamill as well because I cannot see any of the three of them winning Gold in the 205… problem is I can see Anderson Silva beating all three of them pretty badly at 185 … oh well I guess the Middleweight division needs some lambs to throw at the champ for sacrifice because the LHW is already stacked..[/quote]
SEEMS LIKE A TOP A+ LEVEL FIGHTERS ARE BECOMING CHAMPS AND ALL THE B LEVEL TUF FIGHTERS AND OTHERS THAT COME INTO THE LEAGUE NOW REALLY HAS NO ****** CHANCE SO THEY DROP WEIGHT… THEN WHEN THAT DOSENT WORK … THEY EVENTUALLY GO FIGHT FOR A DIFFERENT PROMOTION… WHATCHALL MOFOES THINK?[/quote]
Sounds about right amigo… we will see Diego Sanchez do this eventually to challenge BJ or KFlo…..
YUP ITS SO MUCH ******** YO…. SOON THE ****** LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION IS GONNA HAVE TO MUCH TALENT LIKE IT ALREADY DOES
BISBING BLOWS ANYWAY… HE’LL GET ****** MANHANDLED AT MW ALSO…. STRIAGHT B LEVEL FIGHTER