Michael Bisping goes public with Justin Gaethje DMs following UFC 286 commentary controversy - "You’re out of line"
Michael Bisping has revealed that he messaged Justin Gaethje privately following the lightweight's criticism of 'The Count' for his "biased" commentary at UFC 286.
Gaethje's longtime teammate and friend Kamaru Usman was defeated by Leon Edwards in the main event. 'The Highlight' believes that Bisping was clearly in favor of his fellow countryman during commentary and labeled 'The Count' as "unprofessional."
Bisping responded to Justin Gaethje's accusations during a recent video on his YouTube channel. The former champion revealed that he had DM'd the lightweight contender following the criticism:
"He says he's clearly as biased as the judges. What? What does that mean? I'm not trying to have fun at Justin Gaethje, but if he's as biased as the judges then he thinks that Leon won, 'cause... I respect Justin so I'm not going to get into an argument online. I did shoot him a message directly and just said, 'Yo man, what the hell? You're out of line.' He said, 'Lol.' And I said, 'Yeah, lol indeed. Congrats on a great win.' Because it was a great win, and I understand he's annoyed [about Usman's loss]."
Watch the video below from 2:15:
Leon Edwards defeated Kamaru Usman via majority decision to become the second British UFC champion to defend their title on home soil, after Michael Bisping in 2016. 'The Count' retired from the sport in 2018 and has since taken up a role as a commentator.
Bisping's fellow commentator, Jon Anik, came to the defense of 'The Count' following Justin Gaethje's criticism. Anik took to Twitter and stated:
"Must say in defense of my broadcast partner @bisping the man has zero agenda nor any bias when calling fights. Might even have closer personal relationship w/ Kamaru Usman than he does Leon Edwards. He just felt as though Edwards controlled the stand-up, landed more cleanly."
See the tweets below:
1) Must say in defense of my broadcast partner @bisping, the man has zero agenda nor any bias when calling fights. Might even have closer personal relationship w/ Kamaru Usman than he does Leon Edwards. He just felt as though Edwards controlled the stand-up, landed more cleanly.
2) The job of MMA commentator is not as hard as that of fighter, judge, or referee, but it's hard. We are judged on every utterance over 8+ hours and certainly there are things we'd love to take back. Someone is usually upset w/ something. Never had a perfect show. Never will.
Michael Bisping appears to understand that Justin Gaethje's criticism was more just misplaced frustration combined with loyalty, based on this fan interaction on Twitter.
Nah you gotta respect his loyalty. I do. And his fights even more. twitter.com/ryanchurchy/st…
Michael Bisping believes that Dana White is "rewarding" Colby Covington with a title fight
Colby Covington surprised the MMA community last week when he appeared as the back-up fighter for the UFC 286 main event between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman.
Following Edwards' victory, UFC president Dana White announced that Covington would face 'Rocky' next. But Edwards has since stated that he will refuse to fight 'Chaos', believing that the former title challenger is undeserving of a title shot.
Michael Bisping recently broke down the drama at 170 pounds and stated that White may have "rewarded" Covington with a title shot for agreeing to be the back-up fighter:
"[I speculate that] Dana White said to him, 'If you go through a training camp, fly to London, go through the hardships of making weight. If you do that... I will reward you by giving you the next title fight.'"
Watch the video below from 1:50: