UFC middleweight contender Michael (The Count) Bisping has become an MMA world traveler of sorts.
Born on a British military base in Cyprus, the Manchester, England product now resides in the state of California. He has been all over the globe with his professional fight record echoing his passport stamps.
This weekend, he will compete in Macau, China, his sixth different country, adding to the previous destinations of England, America, Canada, Australia and Brazil.
“I’m performing at a level that I never knew that I could. I’ve certainly turned the corner. I’ve improved so much…my body is nice and loose, my speed is ridiculous, I’ve got better power, better technique, I’m stopping guys in training. I’m knocking them out and putting them down.”
His mission is simple, as his prediction, on what’s in store for his opponent, Macau’s new found favourite son, Cung Le.
“Cung Le is not going to get the job done on Saturday night” stated Bisping. “I don’t think there is a man on this planet that will be able to beat me on Saturday night.”
He stated he had nothing bad to say about his opponent despite a few occurrences where their differences of opinion in person, and comments thrown his way during the pre-fight, build up. For “The Count”, it’s business as usual, which ironically, sees him in a strange position within his division.
Should he emerge victorious, he will set a new UFC record for the most wins by an athlete in the octagon, while never earning himself a title shot. While the majority would choose to use a victory and post fight interview to call out the champion, or at the very least, ask the UFC for a shot at the title, Michael has something else on his mind.
His theory is that the current challenger to the title, Vitor Belfort (who he mentioned looks “completely different” since coming off TRT, and could fight at “135 pounds”) will not defeat champion Chris Weidman, so “The Count” put forth some MMA math.
“It’s pretty simple. There’s a guy named Luke Rockhold who has been calling me out for quite some time… I wanna fight Luke Rockhold. If I beat Luke Rockhold, that will (eventually) make me the No. 1 contender, and I’ll fight Chris Weidman in early 2015.”
While reports have surfaced that Rockhold could be taking on Lyoto Machida next, the American is apparently in Macau, and according to Bisping, there’s a reason for that.
Thinks could get real interesting overseas, just like the full interview with Michael, which you can here in it’s entirety right here.