Michael Bisping identifies the best moments of his legendary MMA career

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is now officially retired. The UK MMA pioneer announced his retirement on a recent episode of his podcast Believe You Me.

“It ain’t worth it,” Bisping said. “I mean, what else am I going to do? I’ve won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins, I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve. What’s the point in flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point? I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve, and fortunately now I’ve used my platform to open other doors. You know, you’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old, the time is now. So, I want to say, first of all, thank you to my wife. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. She was incredible every single step of the way. My children. My dad. My dad was amazing. And of course everyone in the U.K. and around the world that supported me.

“So, yeah, there you go. Great career. That’s that. Thank you everybody.”

In a recent interview with BBC Sport, the former middleweight champ looked back on his illustrious career, and attempted to identify his favorite moments. Unsurprisingly, Bisping feels his best year was 2016 — the year he defeated the legendary Anderson Silva, captured the middleweight title from Luke Rockhold, and avenged his violent knockout loss to Dan Henderson. When asked which of these three 2016 victories was his favorite, however, Bisping had a difficult time picking.

“I get asked about my favourite fight all the time,” he said. “Was it redemption and personal beef and the UFC belt against Luke Rockhold? Was it beating Anderson Silva in London against real adversity in the fight, coming back against a true legend of the sport? Or was It avenging that crippling loss to Dan Henderson in Manchester at 5:30 in the morning, which was mental? I was so apprehensive about that fight. I can’t choose.”

“Oh, you’re making me choose, OK,” he continued. “Maybe Manchester… no, beating Anderson Silva…. No, wait, the belt. I told you I couldn’t choose just one.”

What is your favorite moment from Michael Bisping’s incredible career?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/18/2018.