Michael Bisping has no hard feelings toward Justin Gaethje despite recent criticism: “Justin’s just being a loyal friend and a loyal teammate”

Michael Bisping has no hard feelings toward Justin Gaethje despite recent criticism.

It was Justin Gaethje who accused Bisping of biased commentating at UFC 286.

Gaethje (24-4 MMA) defeated Rafael Fiziev (12-2 MMA) by majority decision in the co-main lightweight bout last Saturday night, March 18th at The O2 Arena in London, England.

Gaethje believes Bisping acted unprofessionally for showing bias in favor of his fellow Brit, Leon Edwards (21-3 MMA), who did ultimately defeat Kamaru Usman (20-3 MMA) by majority decision to retain the welterweight belt.

At the post fight press conference, Gaethje, while happy with his own victory, had this to say about Bisping’s commenting on the main event:

“Yeah, I mean, I thought (Kamaru) won the fight. But, I’m probably as biased as the judges, certainly not as biased as Michael Bisping — you shouldn’t have been nowhere near a microphone during that fight. It sucks… I just thought it was very unprofessional.”

Bisping, speaking on his YouTube channel, addressed the criticism from Gaethje saying:

“Justin’s just being a loyal friend and a loyal teammate. When you’re watching a fight and you want your friend, your teammate to win, the good stuff that they do, in your mind, is emphasized. It is amplified. It is a bigger deal than what it is. And the stuff that the opponent does to your friend, you dismiss it. … That’s just the human mind. That’s how we work. When someone that we respect, when someone that’s our friend that we’re supporting, when they’re doing well, we amplify it in our mind. When anything bad happens, we play it down.”

Continuing the 44-year-old commentator said:

“So Justin firmly believes in his head that Kamaru won that fight. And because I said on the microphone afterwards, ‘Well, Leon clearly won that fight,’ which I thought that he did in a close fight – in a close fight. All the rounds were close. Leon didn’t smoke him in any of the rounds, but I thought generally Kamaru might’ve had one or two rounds. Maybe one, maybe two. I’d have to watch it again. But listen, Leon won the fight. But all rounds were close, and Justin is just being a good teammate.”

Concluding, Bisping said:

“Listen, I’m not ripping on Kamaru. It was a very close fight, but Leon clearly won in my opinion, and the judges echoed that sentiment. And I think generally, universally everybody agrees. I haven’t seen any outcry of robbery or anything like that.”

Quotes via MMAJunkie

The commentary desk for UFC 286 consisted of Michael Bisping, Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier.  Anik and Cormier both came to Bispings’ defence and concluded he was not biased in his analysis.

What do you think of the way Bisping conducted himself during the broadcast at UFC 286?

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