"Man he had a hard bloody head" - Michael Bisping harks back to his iconic fight with Chris Leben

Michael Bisping has posted a tribute on social media harking back to his classic brawl with fan favorite fighter Chris 'The Crippler' Leben.

Bisping and Leben faced off exactly 13 years ago in an iconic main event that took place in Bisping's home country of England. It was 'The Count' who ultimately came away victorious that night, claiming a unanimous victory. However, the fans also won. They got to witness a memorable fight between two UFC legends.

Michael Bisping recently commemorated the fight by posting the following to his Instagram account:

"13 years ago today in the main event at the Birmingham NEC vs Chris Leben. Man he had a hard bloody head."

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What happened next for Michael Bisping and Chris Leben

Following his five-round victory over Leben, Michael Bisping initially had mixed success.

'The Count' recorded dominant finishes against Jason Miller and Cung Lee. However, losses to some of the middleweight elite, such as Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson, stopped him from getting that elusive title shot.

That changed in 2016 when Michael Bisping put in one of the all-time great performances to get the win over former champion Anderson Silva. That was enough to see Bisping granted a title shot against his former foe Luke Rockhold after Chris Weidman dropped out mere weeks before the fight.

Despite having less than half the usual fight camp time to prepare, Michael Bisping knocked out his rival in the first round and claimed the title.

Bisping went on to defend his belt before losing it to Georges St-Pierre. Shortly after, he retired and has since become one of the UFC's regular commentators.

Meanwhile, Chris Leben continued fighting in the UFC for another five years after the Bisping bout. In 2013, he made the decision to retire from MMA, leaving the UFC with a 22-12 record.

However, that was not the end of Chris Leben's combat sports career. In 2018, Leben entered the world of bare-knuckle boxing. He currently holds wins over Phil Baroni, Justin Baseman and Quentin Henry.

He competed as recently as May this year. He has since repeatedly called out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.