UFC 199 was a spectacular night full of knockouts and upsets, none bigger than than the one Michael Bisping pulled off against Luke Rockhold to win the UFC middleweight belt. Rockhold was largely dismissive of Bisping leading up to and even during the fight, right up to the point where Bisping dropped him with an overhand right and then knocked him unconscious against the cage 3:36 into the first round.
After the fight, Bisping showed up to the post-event press conference with a beer in his hands just as Luke Rockhold was tearing into him.
“God, that guy is such a dick!” Rockhold said jokingly. But his rant quickly devolved into genuine anger. “I mean, you show your true colors after a fight and that f**king guy comes up to me and went ‘You know where you are?’ Like, I f**king picked you up off the canvas and gave you respect. That guy’s a piece of s**t and I wanna come f**king kill him next time around. He’s just a maggot. Come to me and saying that? Those are true colors.”
Bisping didn’t exactly respond in the most grown-up fashion, holding the belt up and taunting Rockhold.
“I shook your hand, and you said ‘I already shook your hand’ and you told me to f**k off,” Bisping yelled. “Buddy, you got knocked the f**k out. You got knocked out. Sit down, shut up.”
Handling the post-event press conference duties for the night was Dave Sholler, who looked a bit concerned that Luke and Michael might put him into the middle of another Jones-Cormier style brawl. “I feel like we’re at the pre-fight press conference again,” he joked as the two middleweight eyed each other angrily across the podium.
It was all fun and games (for those watching at home, at least) until Bisping dropped that other f-word, the one with six letters, after the press conference was over.
We’ll let that video speak for itself and see how the UFC reacts to their new middleweight champion calling someone a f*ggot on the night he won the title. I’m sure they won’t be thrilled. As for Bisping, he said something during the press conference that seems fitting to this incident.
“I’ve done things to be considered a bad guy over the course of my career, I know I have,” he admitted. “I’ve acted like an idiot, but I’ve grown and matured in front of the world, to be honest. I know I’ve said things. I look back and I cringe at some of the stuff I’ve said in the past. I might cringe at some of the things I’ve said tonight.”
He certainly has something to cringe over now.
