UFC’s Michael Bisping retires from MMA

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will become the latest fighter to attempt to retire, announcing his intentions on his podcast Monday.

Bisping said that health is a driving factor as he started seeing flashes in his left eye after a knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum late last year. He was diagnosed with a vitreous detachment which he said puts him at risk for a detached retina, the same injury he suffered in his right eye. 

He said he was still planning on fighting Rashad Evans in London this month, but after watching a movie about a fighter who suffers major injuries and health declines when he refuses to stop fighting, he decided to call it a career.

Best known for being a great promo and essentially an MMA heel during the boom period of the UFC, the 39-year-old finally reached the mountaintop in June 2016 by knocking out then-champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 to capture his first and only UFC title. 

That fight came in a stretch in which he defeated Anderson Silva, Rockhold, and Dan Henderson before losing the belt to the returning Georges St. Pierre at UFC 217 last November. He made an ill-advised return just three weeks later against Gastelum in Shanghai and lost via first round knockout.

He finishes up his pro career at 30-9, having started in 2004. He made it to the UFC in 2006 as part of the TUF 3 cast and moved to middleweight after a handful of fights at light heavyweight. Including the names above, Bisping fought a who’s who including Evans, Wanderlei Silva, Brian Stann, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, and Chris Leben.