"You can hear us all talking and giving our opinions" - Michael Bisping reveals if commentators influence the judges' scoring at the UFC Apex Arena
Michael Bisping seems comfortable in the shoes of a commentator and analyst after a glorious UFC career. Bisping recently revealed whether commentators influenced the judges' scoring in ongoing bouts.
While Michael Bisping admitted it was a possibility, he believes a competent judge would not be affected by the commentary during bouts. 'The Count' also believes that the chances of the judge's decision being influenced has been almost obliterated due to the crowd presence.
However, Bisping also admitted that judges are only human and there's always some room for error. Asked about commentators influencing the judges' scoring, Bisping recently made the following statement on his podcast Believe You Me:
"So there is a potential for that. However, if the judge was good at his job and had his own opinion and if he had a strong mind, confidence in his pick, confidence in his opinion. If he knew the sport and he was breaking it down then he should ignore us anyway. But I guess we are all human being. You know what I mean. And if you are torn between,'oh, I'm not sure, it was close, this guy, that guy'. And DC [Daniel Cormier] arguing the takedown and I'm like, 'Well no, he got back to his feet'. And he hears that, hey listen, judges are human beings. I don't know, that's a really interesting question. The judges are kind of far from us. But still I would assume in the early days, now I feel that that's eradicated. There's a bit of a crowd, there's more atmosphere, it is louder."
Watch Michael Bisping's full podcast below:
When Michael Bisping was accused of biased commentary
Michael Bisping was on commentary duty when John Makdessi faced Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Brasilia in March 2020. According to Makdessi, Bisping was biased in his commentary during the fight to the point that it seemed like he (Bisping) bore a personal grudge against him. John Makdessi told Fansided in an interview dating back to April 2020:
"He was commentating. So once I got back home, I watched the fight, and I heard his commentary, talking about a lot of things that made no sense. I just find it very funny how a guy like that … he wasn’t the smartest fighter. He took a lot of damage, he took a lot of shots. And I’m very surprised by how he’s commentating. Especially when he was doing the commentary of my fight, you know, I found it funny how he said I was running away, but any intelligent person understands."
Have a listen to Michael Bisping's commentary on the Makdessi fight, right here: