Michael Bisping: No Coincidence I’m Champion After USADA

Following the UFC’s implication of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) strict drug testing policy in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), fighters have been dropping like flies to the agency’s strict testing criteria.

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is never one to shy away from words, and it wasn’t any different in his recent piece for Champions.co regarding the new drug testing polices.

The 185-pound champ ‘The Count’ doesn’t believe that it’s a coincidence that he finally won the first title in his decade-long UFC career, by knocking out then-champion Luke Rockhold in the first round of the main event of UFC 199 this past June, after the UFC decided to get in bed with USADA in 2015:

Michael Bisping knocked out Luke Rockhold in one round at UFC 199

“The only thing that I know is that I am not on steroids. You can bet whatever you want to bet. I’ll say that on my children’s lives, on my wife’s life, on my mother’s life…anything you want. I can say with all the integrity and honesty in the world, and I’ll still be able to look you in the eye and sleep at night, I do not take performance enhancing drugs.

Anybody else, I don’t know about. It’s not my business, but since USADA has come in, I am now the champion. You do the math on that one and let me know what you come up with. I don’t really want to kick people when they’re down, because the people that have failed their drug tests have probably punished themselves plenty. I can only imagine the UFC’s frustration.

With so many of the top dogs out, maybe I can get three fights in each year. Two fights is never enough, in my opinion, but I am fortunate that this year, I’m getting those coveted three fights. It’ll be the first time in a while that it’s happened.

Bisping will make his first title defense against old rival Dan Henderson at UFC 204

I’m happy and I feel a sense of pride in that I’m a relatively old school UFC fighter. I’m no Matt Hughes or Chuck Liddell, but I’ve been on the roster for over a decade, and I’m proud of that. I was on The Ultimate Fighter 3, not 30, you know what I’m saying? It’s nice to be one of the older guys, the longer tenured guys and I have the belt on top of it all.

You know what the best part is? I’ve been here all this time, and I’ve never tested positive for anything other than hard work and dedication. I take a lot of pride in that, and I look forward to the rest of my career knowing that I’ve accomplished all this on my own terms, without the benefit of external drugs. In this day and age, that’s quite an achievement.”

Bisping will defend his middleweight title against Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 204 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England on October 8, 2016.

You can read Bisping’s full article here.