Bisping acquitted himself well against the middleweight G.O.A.T. until Silva crushed him with a flying knee while Bisping signaled to his fallen mouthpiece. “Spider” thought the fight was over at the end of the third round, but referee Herb Dean remained steadfast that he had not called the fight. With two rounds to go, Bisping surged back and earned the decision win in one of the best fights of recent memory.
He parlayed that into the biggest fight of his life. When Chris Weidman withdrew from his title fight against Rockhold, Bisping stepped in on 17 days’ notice. Quickly, Bisping made his presence known at the pre-fight press conference with his famous “conceive, believe, achieve” teardown of Rockhold’s confident demeanor, and at UFC 199, he made good on his first crack at the title. After a decade on the roster, Bisping captured UFC gold. Four months later, he faced his old foe, Henderson, and got his revenge via unanimous decision to defend the belt.
Watch Michael Bisping’s Induction Into The UFC Hall of Fame
Although Bisping would eventually lose his title to Georges St-Pierre and retire after a loss to Kelvin Gastelum, his standing amongst his peers was long-cemented.
