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.