Michael Bisping: How to Become a UFC Fighter

We all know Michael Bisping. He’s an amazing fighter from the UK, and a long-tenured superstar. Some may notice the lack of a belt in his trophy case, but he has not yet given up on that goal. While he seems to fall short in the quest for promotional gold, Michael is always in a prominent position of every fight card, either the main event or co-main. “The Count” doesn’t complain. He carved a little slice of the American Dream for himself, with a beautiful family, a new home in California, a secure future, and intriguing options post-career. But he is far from retiring, so we might yet see that belt in his hands. Interestingly enough, his first taste of fighting came early in life. His two older brothers were rowdy, and students two grades above Michael sought to get revenge on the youngest Bisping. They didn’t fare well against Michael: “I guess I always had a chip on my shoulder,” Bisping said. “I was bored a little bit here and there, but to be honest, I was obsessed with martial arts at a young age.” While Michael did dabble in rugby and canoeing, it didn’t take long for him to find his true passion. By the time he was 15, Michael was fighting in Knock Down Sport Budo, a British version of MMA as we know it today. “It was an international tournament, [with] guys from all over Europe: Sweden, France, Denmark, England. Four fights in one night. I started doing it when I was 15, obviously a headstrong lad. I won the majority of them,” Bisping said. “Even then, I didn’t think that this was something I could make a career out of. It was just a hobby. I had a natural competitive streak in me. I always enjoyed a good fight. What can I say? Some people are made up for different things, and I was always talented at that; and I always enjoyed testing myself.” His bad boy style started forming back then. Not only did he not want to shake hands with his opponent, he opened with front kick to the chest. “We bowed. The referee said, ‘Fight.’ There it is; it’s a fight,” Bisping said. “I was always very aggressive when I was younger. I was around a lot of violence as a child. I’m in the zone. When we bowed, the referee said, ‘Fight.’ I didn’t have any idea of shaking hands.” It seems that Bisping is not too proud of his act, explaining it with violence in the house, which he is quite reluctant to elaborate on. Still, it shows that fighters are made in an early, tender age. “I don’t want to get into it too much. My family was a very loving family, of course — my parents, I love them dearly — but there was a lot of violence in our household,” Bisping said. “Trust me … it was a well-known house. There was a lot of violence, and that’s about as much as I’d like to say. I don’t want to throw my family under a bus. I saw a lot of things and I was around a lot of things that I shouldn’t have been around, but it made me the man I am today.” Another important influence for many fighters, including Bisping, is a visionary or inspiring coach. For Michael, that was Paul Lloyd Davies. “He put a vision in my head and said, ‘Michael you’re going to be the best fighter in the world. You’re going to make a lot of money. You’re going to do movies. You’re going to do TV,’” Bisping said. “I thought, ‘Well, Jesus Christ, I’ve got nothing to lose.’ And I worked for it. Everything he said has come true. It really has come true. At the time I used to think, ‘This is farfetched. He’s getting too carried away. If half of what he says comes true, I’ll be happy.’ Well, it’s all come true: I do movies, I work on TV … I’ve been in the top 10 forever. I thank him for putting that vision in my head.” It’s not easy to reach the Octagon. Michael dropped out of school at age 16 and went on to gather impressive collection of different …

continue reading in source www.sherdog.com