After knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum, coach plans to have “a conversation” with Michael Bisping

Former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping lost twice in November: first, to Georges St-Pierre, which marked the end of his title reign, then to Kelvin Gastelum, who knocked him out just weeks after his concussive loss to St-Pierre.

In the wake of these losses, Bisping’s long-time coach Jason Parillo believes it might be time for Bisping to think about hanging up the gloves, and plans to have a conversation with him to that end.

“In my opinion, Michael Bisping’s done enough,” Parillo told MMAjunkie. “I don’t think Michael Bisping ever has to fight again. I think that he had such a phenomenal career – if we are just fighting for money, maybe it’s not worth it at this point. He’s made a lot of money. He can retire and be fine for the rest of his life. He’ll never be fine just sitting around being fine. He’s going to go out and be making noise doing something else. That’s a conversation that’s going to be had over the course of time, obviously.”

“The wound is still a little fresh [after Bisping’s loss to Gastelum],” Parillo continued. “I’m still a little down about his last fight. Not because he lost. You’re going to be down. I tell these guys, ‘Don’t worry about what people say and what people think’ and the whole nine yards. But, at the end of the day you’re emotionally attached to these guys when you’re part of it. You’re not in there fighting, but you feel the wins and losses and the losses hurt. I want to see Mike rest. I can’t even get my mind wrapped around him fighting anybody at this point. I don’t even want to think about fighting anybody right now.”

While Parillo admits Bisping’s loss to to Gastelum was tough to watch, he maintains that he’s trying not to regret it.

“Hindsight, you’re always going to say it’s a regret,” Parillo said. “You’re going to say that about (regrets): ‘(Expletive), we shouldn’t have done that.’ At the end of the day, you can’t go back on it and have regrets really about it. That’s Michael Bisping. Michael Bisping’s going to continue. That’s his character and the personality he is. He wanted to take that fight and he knows that he’s going to live with himself no matter what happens and no matter what you say or I say or any of the fans say.

“At the end of the day Michael Bisping’s just fine with who Michael Bisping is. He’s fine with the choices he makes and I know that as a coach. Everybody on his team knows that. He made a decision and he knows he’s going to live with it no matter what direction it goes.”

Whatever the case, Michael Bisping seems to be plotting his retirement fight for the UFC’s March return to London, England. That means Parillo isn’t likely to have to worry much longer.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/12/2017.