Michael Bisping is hurting mentally following his recent title loss.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title holder put his gold on the line against Georges St-Pierre earlier this month. He was choked out by “Rush,” ending his title reign in the process.
During a recent edition of MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Bisping talked about getting a chance to redeem himself against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai on Nov. 25:
“I get a chance to exorcise my demons. I get a chance to get back in the win column – all good things. I text Dana, I said, ‘Listen, I know a guy that fought last week who has no injuries that can fight in Shanghai’. He text back, ‘interesting’, and I text back, ‘very’. Twenty minutes later, I get a phone call. We agreed, we said we’d do it.”
Bisping replaces Anderson Silva, who was pulled due to being flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). “The Count” said the UFC’s legal team checked in to ensure he would be good to go.
“I got a call from legal department saying, ‘Mike, we need to know that you’re there mentally and physically, how do you feel?’ I said physically I’m fine, but mentally I’m wounded. The only thing that’s going to make that right is if I’m able to fight again. I’m emotionally and mentally scarred, but physically I’m fine. There was a little bit of testing – an MRI and what not. I got checked up and the New York commission was fine with that, so there we go, we’re all good.”
