When Michael Bisping stepped up to fight Kelvin Gastelum right after being finished by Georges St-Pierre, the big question was going to be such a quick turnaround was going to effect his performance on fight night. That question didn’t really get answered, actually Gastelum didn’t nearly give us time to ask it. Kelvin Gastelum knocked out Bisping with a huge left hand in the very first round in only two minutes and thirty seconds. Left Hook Larry ended up being thwarted by his own best weapon.
Michael Bisping wanted to take the fight to exorcise his demons and get the bad taste out of his mouth from the loss at UFC 217. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen but Bisping seemed to me in good spirits after the fight, stating he would still have his last fight in England. This marks the first time Bisping has been fully KOed since his infamous encounter with Dan Henderson back at UFC 100. Huge respect to Michael Bisping for filling in short notice for Anderson Silva and taking a big risk. Even his coach felt Gastelum was slept on and would be even more dangerous than Georges St-Pierre. As for Kelvin Gastelum, he wants to fight Robert Whittaker and has definitely made a case that he deserves it.
“I can’t see how I cannot take this fight. I’m serious because the homework is done. I’ve got no injuries. I like to fight, and I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth from my last performance. That’s what’s bothering me. The UFC head of legal, Hunter Campbell, he was checking ‘Are you OK, are you OK?’ and physically I’m fine. Mentally, I’m very frustrated. So this gives me a chance to exorcise my demons and get some decent mental space back. Physically, I’m totally fine. Mentally, I’m pissed off. So for me it’s almost a gift from the gods. I text [Dana White] saying ‘I see that Gastelum needs an opponent’ and that I know a guy that fought last week that has no injuries. “He texts back, ‘interesting,’ and I said, ‘very.’ Then he called me. Obviously he was concerned that I had no injuries or anything like that. I had to do some medical tests or whatever, and when he was satisfied he was like, ‘Cool let’s do it.'” — Michael Bisping speaking to Flo Combat.
Longtime MMA referee Marc Goddard hadn’t been shaken up many times in his legendary career, but all that changed as Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum battled at UFC 236.
