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Michael Bisping was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019 after an illustrious career that included becoming the first British champion in promotional history. His former opponent, Vitor Belfort, is set to join him in that exclusive club this summer, marking his fifth opponent - Rashad Evans, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Wanderlei Silva - to earn induction for their fighting career.
'The Count' famously suffered a detached retina injury against Belfort, who was on testosterone replacement therapy, as he defeated him via second-round TKO at UFC on FX 7 back in 2013. While he later became middleweight champion, Bisping wound up losing his eye due to complications from the injury. Despite the life-altering injury, he recently shared his thoughts on 'The Phenom's' induction.
Speaking to Mike Bohn of The Bohnfire podcast, Bisping stated:
"When you look at it and remove all the emotions from it, the man was the UFC heavyweight champion of the world at 19. He then became the light heavyweight champion. He almost became the middleweight champion. He's been the closest thing we've had to a three-weight champion. Was he a massive cheater? Of course. Did he take a lot of steroids? Of course."
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Bisping continued:
"Were there a lot of other people doing that at the same time. Absolutely there was. So I was like, 'I get it.' But then when I thought about it and I thought that I lost an eye because of this guy, I'm like, 'yeah, he can stick his Hall of Fame up his a**... But he does deserve it. You can't deny what he did inside the octagon. You just can't deny it... If that's not a Hall of Fame career, I don't know what is. Whether you like it or not, he deserves it."
Check out Michael Bisping's comments below (37:27):
Despite their complicated history, even Bisping can't deny the legacy of Belfort. 'The Count' was able to continue his fighting career for nearly five years after suffering the eye injury.
Michael Bisping calls out Jon Jones in defense of Tom Aspinall
Michael Bisping has long been a vocal supporter of Tom Aspinall. He recently called out Jon Jones during his appearance on The Bohnfire podcast, asking 'Bones' to "defend or vacate" the UFC heavyweight title.
"For Jon to not want to give this guy an opportunity, where other people gave him an opportunity - he was the youngest champion in this sport and he's always talking about, 'Oh, there's going to be younger guys coming along.' Well, what about when you were fighting for the belt and you were the youngest person to ever do it? You got that opportunity, and when you become the champion, there's an obligation to do that. So defend or vacate."
Check out Michael Bisping's comments below:
While Bisping has taken issue with the lack of news regarding the heavyweight title picture, Jones has shared that the UFC is aware of his plans. It appears that 'Bones' could be targeting a return at Madison Square Garden in November.
