Michael Bisping lost his UFC middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre less than two weeks ago and is currently preparing for a UFC Shanghai bout with Kelvin Gastelum
Bisping immediately claimed after the fight that he would be seeking to get back into the octagon as soon as possible, although no one expected it would be just a matter of weeks later.
Bisping’s striking coach, Jason Parillo, told ESPN Five Rounds podcast that he sees Gastelum as “a bigger threat” than St-Pierre:
“Really, Kelvin is, in my opinion, on the feet, a tougher fight than Georges St-Pierre,” said Parillo. “It’s not like Mike’s a guy that shoots and wrestles all the time so obviously it’s gonna be a lot of stand up fighting and this guy’s a bigger threat than I think that even Georges was.”
Despite what Parillo believes about the threat Gastelum poses to “The Count”, he is certain Bisping can pull off the win:
“Mike is a world champion and he can fight any guy on the planet. Is there a question about how he’s gonna be mentally with how close this fight is? Sure, there could be. But I have a feeling Mike’s head is gonna be right in this fight and it’s something that he really wants to go out there and win and try to dust off his last loss. We’re going in. We’re gonna go in regardless of whether I have concerns or don’t have concerns. We’re gonna go in and we’re gonna go in there to win.”
