Michael Bisping still a top-ranked middleweight after all these years
If you closely examine the current UFC middleweight rankings, there are a few veteran names that should stick out ahead of the rest. It's one thing to make the top 10, it's an entirely different accomplishment to stay there year after year after year.
As it turns out, UFC 186 co-main event fighter Michael Bisping is one of the most tenured fighters on the entire list with only Vitor Belfort trumping him in overall UFC seniority. Bisping has former middleweight champion Anderson Silva beat by four days in terms of debuting in the Octagon although the outspoken Brit also participated on "The Ultimate Fighter," which stretched back much further than his 2006 debut.
Bisping could even tout longevity over Belfort, who left the UFC for several years to fight for other promotions before settling back into a home in the Octagon in 2009.
Through it all, Bisping has stayed consistently busy, fighting in main events and co-main events across the world, but as he prepares to fight this weekend against C.B. Dollaway, the veteran UFC fighter isn't just battling to bounce back from a loss.
He's fighting to stay relevant in a deep and treacherous middleweight division.
"Obviously my back's up against the wall. I thought I was going to win the (Luke) Rockhold fight. I thought I did well in the first round, but we clashed heads — I call it a head butt, the referee calls it a clash of heads, the fact of the matter was it was pissing blood into my eye and I couldn't really see much after that," Bisping explained to FOX Sports.
"Of course everyone's got an excuse, but I couldn't see, I got caught with a kick to the head, I got in a scramble and I got caught with a guillotine. So I have to win this fight against C.B. Dollaway if I'm to proclaim that I'm still a great fighter. I've got to win this fight."
Bisping sits at No. 10 in the middleweight rankings, which is a much lower spot than he's normally occupied over the past few years. Bisping is typically asked about his place in the middleweight title race or his next No. 1 contender's fight, but with a 4-4 record over his last eight fights, the 36-year-old Brit knows that if he wants to tackle the top of the division again before his career is over it's now or never.
But numbers and rankings are subjective and Bisping scoffs at the idea that he's somehow no longer a top five fighter because he's bounced back and forth between wins and losses in recent fights.
Actually scoffs is the wrong word — it out and out angers him that anyone would consider him anything less than one of the best fighters in the world especially when examining his record and the murderer's row of opponents he's faced lately.
"The answer is yes," Bisping says emphatically when asked if he's still a top-five middleweight. "It's easy, it's all well and good when you're fighting f---ing wet behind the ears (guys) they can't fight while I've been fighting the best guys time after time after time. Not to mention every motherf---er is juiced out of their f---ing minds, steroids and putting every other kind of illegal drug in their system, which I haven't been doing.
"I'm not saying Luke Rockhold does that because he's a clean fighter so good for him. But outside of the Tim Kennedy fight, which was a sh--ty performance, it was the worst performance of my career and Rockhold, we clashed heads, I had f---ing blood in my eye, I couldn't see. Other than that it's only juice heads and cheating motherf---ers who have beat me."
Bisping has a point.
He's actually become the poster boy for fighters who advocate for a cleaner sport while taking on a laundry list of opponents who have either been caught cheating or at one time or another used a cocktail of synthetic testosterone to help boost performance.
Unfortunately, Bisping knows there's no going back and getting those losses off his record, so he just has to move forward. What Bisping knows for certain is that he's never lost two fights in a row to anybody in the UFC and he doesn't intend to start now with his next fight at UFC 186.
"I've never lost two fights in a row in my life and every time I come off a loss, I'm super motivated. It's very important to me," Bisping said. "I'm not going to be remembered for losing to C.B. Dollaway and Luke Rockhold back to back. I'm very motivated."
Bisping is well aware of the old fighter hyperbole about saying things like "I'm better than I've ever been" or "This was the best training camp of my life," but he can't help but gush about the way he's feeling going into the bout with Dollaway.
He got more creative in the gym, added a few new weapons to the arsenal and he plans on unleashing them Saturday night to show that this old dog still has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
"I'm going to make an example out of C.B. Dollaway," Bisping said. "If he could see what I'm doing in the gym right now, he would s--t his pants. He wouldn't show up on fight night. He would come up with some excuse, he would fake an injury I'm telling you. He's going to be made an example of. I'm going to beat him to the punch. I'm going to be too fast for him.
"Since the last fight, I've just been training and getting more creative, trying new things. C.B. Dollaway is in for a very, very bad night at the office. I feel bad for the guy."
