When Robert Whittaker captured the interim UFC middleweight title last year, Michael Bisping was already the UFC’s reigning 185-pound champion. The two never got a chance to fight though.
Bisping lost back-to-back contests a few months later, first dropping his title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217, then suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Singapore. The latter performance eventually wound up being the final fight of Bisping’s career. “The Count” announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Monday, bringing an end to a 14-year journey that will surely result in Bisping being enshrined into the UFC Hall of Fame.