Michael Bisping is happy to not play the role of the villain for once.
“The Count” has received a ton of praise for stepping up to fight Kelvin Gastelum. Anderson Silva was scheduled to take on Gastelum this Saturday (Nov. 25). Silva was pulled from the card after a potential violation of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Bisping stepped up on short notice. Earlier this month, Bisping lost his UFC middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre via third-round submission. Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, the former 185-pound champion said he’s happy with the amount of praise he’s received:
“It’s weird – for most of my career, I’ve been Public Enemy No. 1. It’s a refreshing change – I’ve been getting a lot of compliments from people. … To be honest, I just don’t understand why someone in my position wouldn’t take that fight. I’ve got no injuries from the last one, I’m in shape, I had a tremendous training camp (for St-Pierre). The fight didn’t go my way – for whatever reason, it wasn’t clicking on the night. That’s just the way it goes – I had a bad night at the office. I get a chance now to go out there and fight the way I wanted to fight.”
