"I wanted to kill that guy" - Michael Bisping reveals which UFC fighter "pis**d" him off the most
During his active days as an MMA fighter, Michael Bisping was notorious for his trash talk and his uncanny ability to get on people's nerves.
Despite usually being the one to get in his opponents' head, the former UFC middleweight champion has revealed that it was Jorge Rivera who actually managed to get inside his. On an episode of his Believe You Me podcast, 'The Count' said that Rivera got on his nerves so much that he wanted to "kill the guy."
"The one that pis**d me off the most is Jorge Rivera. I wanted to kill that guy...We talked about it at length many many times but yeah, that definitely got in my head and that little d**khead coach that he had, I forget his name but yeah, there you go, Jorge Rivera," said Michael Bisping.
You can listen to the full episode of the podcast below:
The rivalry between Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera
Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera fought at UFC 127. In the lead-up to the fight, Rivera said a lot of unsavory things about 'The Count', his family and his heritage.
Bisping got a chance to take revenge on February 27, 2011. The fight started on an unfortunate note for the Englishman. He was deducted a point for landing an illegal knee on Rivera. Soon after, Bisping finished 'El Conquistador' via punches in the second round of the fight.
The animosity between the two fighters did not end after the fight. Following the win, Michael Bisping spat at one of Rivera's cornermen and followed it with the words, "go home, loser!"
Later, in an interview backstage with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Bisping apologized for his actions.
"I was spitting on the floor just to let him know what I thought of him...I apologize for that, I never wanna act like that. I apologize for losing my cool... He said a lot of things, he mocked me for the world to see and I tried to bite my tongue and take the higher ground but once I started letting my fists fly, it was like the floodgates of emotion opened and it all came boiling out...I didn't mean to spit though. So, I do apologize for that whole-heartedly."
Catch Bisping's post-fight interview at UFC 127 below: