Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has officially announced his retirement from MMA.
Bisping made it official on his podcast Believe You Me and said problems with his eye are the main reason he’s calling it quits. Bisping said issues with his eye came after his last fight in 2017 which was a KO loss to Kelvin Gastelum.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a fight I’m announcing. I am going to officially announce my retirement from mixed martial arts. It’s been a long journey… You can’t do it forever. I’ve done it for a long time of course. I got issues with my eye after the Gastelum fight then I started having issues with my good eye,” Bisping said.
Bisping would then later describe his issues with his good eye being that he sees flashes in the dark after turning his head a certain way. After initially fearing it was a detached retina, it was revealed that Bisping had a vitreous detachment.
Even though Bisping had eye issues, he was still considering a return to the octagon and was negotiating a fight against Rashad Evans in London.
“I did contemplate another fight. I was going to fight in London. That never happened, probably a good thing… I was actually negotiating with the UFC to fight Rashad Evans in London,” Bisping said.
The 39-year-old Bisping has fought professionally since 2004 and with the UFC since 2006, owning a 30-9 overall record. After winning the UFC middleweight title at UFC 199, Bisping made one successful defense before losing the title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 last November. Bisping would make an unusually quick turnaround as he fought Gastelum just three weeks later after losing to St-Pierre.
The former UFC champion does sport an impressive resume of wins including Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold and Anderson Silva while also having fought Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva and St-Pierre. Bisping's retirement announcement can be seen in the video at this link.
