Former UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping returns to action next weekend when he faces Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of UFC Fight Night Shanghai.
Jason Parillo is the longtime coach of Bisping and he calls Gastleum a more dangerous opponent than UFC Middleweight Champion Georges St. Pierre.
“Really, Kelvin is, in my opinion, on the feet, a tougher fight than Georges St. Pierre,” said Parillo on the Five Rounds Podcast. “It’s not like Mike’s a guy that shoots and wrestles all the time so obviously it’s gonna be a lot of stand up fighting and this guy’s a bigger threat than I think that even Georges was.”
Bisping last competed at UFC 217 and was choked unconscious by GSP, who was returning after a four plus year layoff.
The former middleweight champion is also competing just a few weeks after his latest loss, but his longtime coach is just hoping for the best.
“This guy’s got a different mind frame. Is it gonna hurt or help him? We’re gonna find out. . . You can look at it both ways. I’m looking that it’s a good thing that Michael wants to do. It’s something that he’s very happy about the decision that he made to do this, so we’ve got to ride that positive mind into this fight and hope for the best,” says Parillo.
UFC Fight Night Shanghai takes place on Saturday, November 25 from the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China with Michael Bisping and Kelvin Gastelum headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass.
