Michael Bisping reveals how he ended up in prison
Many people know Michael Bisping as a UFC Hall of Famer and former UFC middleweight champion. Yet, he has a past not many people know, and that includes spending time in jail.
Although he hasn’t touched on it yet, his new book coming out explains it all, and it slipped up at the Hall of Fame speech. So, on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, he explained how he ended up in jail.
“Yeah that’s right. A lot of people actually said to me, because I did mention it at the Hall of Fame thing, it kind of slipped the tongue there.” Michael Bisping explained. “So, I knew it was in the book and it was coming out soon. At the time, I was trying to put that behind me. I was trying to become a new person. Reinvent myself. Of course, when I was younger, I made a lot of mistakes. A lot of people do. I’m only human. Maybe I made some more than others. I found myself in trouble with the law a few times. I was never a criminal but I was always quick to get into a fight. Go figure, I became a professional fighter.
“But yeah, I went to prison when Rebecca was seven-months pregnant. So that was obviously a low point for me and for her. When I became a mixed martial artist, I didn’t want that to be the stigma. I didn’t want that to be ‘Oh look at this – another tough guy, another criminal or whatever coming into cage fighting’. Because you automatically assume things. So I never spoke about that because I wasn’t proud of that part of my life. I chose to forget it and put it behind me and become someone new. Now my journey is over. Well, my mixed martial arts journey is over. And, I’ve written a book. You know, it’s only fair to tell the truth.”
Bisping continues that it was a fight where he went to help his friend that got him in jail.
“Yeah it was a bar fight. I went into a bathroom and my friend was on the floor getting his head kicked in by two people. So, what are you going to do? A fight starts and then it spilled outside and continued out there. Then a guy used a women as a human shield, as a distraction, as another guy was inching closer in my peripheral vision I could seem him. Maybe today with my vision being a little messed up I wouldn’t have seen him. But back then I had perfect 20/20 vision and my peripheral was fine, the guy was inching closer with his fists clenched. I knew what he was going to do, and of course after years of martial arts training the one thing I chose to put him down with was a high kick to the head. Maybe a little bit of an overreaction, maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but shin on chin occurred. He went down. The cops pulled up. Long story short I went to prison for a while.”
