Michael Bisping Reflects On ‘Nightmare’ Injury Before GSP Fight

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has opened up on the situation leading into UFC 217.

Bisping lost in the main event of the UFC 217 PPV (pay-per-view) event on November 4th in New York at Madison Square Garden to former UFC welterweight champion and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre by submission.

There were many fight fans that believed Bisping would retire following UFC 217. However, he is continuing with his pro-MMA career. He then lost to Kelvin Gastelum UFC Fight Night 122.

In a recent interview, the former UFC champion noted that he suffered a nasty injury to his rib just one week prior to the fight.

“I actually tore the cartilage in my ribs the week before the fight,” said Bisping during a recent appearance on the True Geordie podcast (transcript courtesy of MMA Mania). “It was the final training session, we shouldn’t have done this sparring session, this sounds like an excuse.

I didn’t talk about it at the time because it sounds like you’re making excuses but the reality was on the Friday before we flew to New York, Dean [Ammasinger] was out there, he was helping me a little bit and he shot in for a double leg takedown like his life depended on it. Ran me across the Octagon, I went down and he landed on top of my ribs.

“Generally that would be fine, but as soon as I went down, I felt something rip so I couldn’t move, I couldn’t rotate, I couldn’t do anything.”

Due to the fact that the return of St-Pierre was a highly-anticipated event, Bisping knew that he had to push through the pain and suffering in order to have the fight happen.

“I got to New York and I was having treatment on it everyday, it was an absolute nightmare,” Bisping said. “So people said to me ‘you looked a little stiff in there, Michael’. Yeah, I was stiff for a very good reason. I tore the cartilage in my ribs but it was a big fight, a lot of money on the line, and as a fighter you still think you can do it.

“It wasn’t my best performance, it didn’t go my way, but not taking anything away from Georges. God bless him, good for him, he got the job done.”