Michael Bisping is emphasizing the importance of weight classes in combat sports.
I guess “The Count” — a former light heavyweight — forgot he ducked Yoel Romero to book himself a title fight against a puffed-up welterweight back in late 2018. Perhaps losing to Georges St-Pierre by way of submission has since soured the retired ex-champ, or maybe he just hates celebrity boxer Jake Paul.
Understandable, when you consider how many times “El Gallo” has whooped former UFC fighters.
That includes Paul’s sixth-round technical knockout victory over Mike Perry last weekend in Tampa, a fight Bisping predicted would end in favor of “Platinum.”
Oops.
“Jake Paul, I think he’s made a tremendous mistake here,” Bisping said on YouTube ahead of the “Fear No Man” pay-per-view (PPV) event. “[Perry is] a real fighter. He’s gonna get in shape, he’s not afraid to mix it up. He’s gonna go right at Jake Paul. Not the way Nate Diaz did. He’s gonna go forward with close, tight, sharp, powerful hooks. He’s gonna be in shape. The man has got a chin and the fire still burns. Mike Perry’s a brawler, man. Mike Perry’s gonna get in his face. Mike Perry, if this fight actually does go down, will destroy Jake Paul. You heard it here first.”
Perry did go right at Paul and was in shape … and got smoked anyway.
As expected, Bisping quickly altered his stance following the fight, expressing his belief that the match should never have occurred in the first place.
“Coming into this fight, I think myself, I think the whole fight community, everyone was behind Mike Perry, but the reality was he was too small,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “There are weight classes in boxing, in combat sports for a reason. It was only until the fight started — when I saw them both with their shirts off and just the gloves and the shoes on and the shorts — that I realized just the discrepancy in the size. Jake Paul was about twice the size of him. The weight difference (was) going to be insane.”
I’m assuming Bisping missed their shirtless face off.
If Paul was “twice the size” of Perry he would stand 11’8” and weight over 400 pounds. That’s not quite as silly as Conor McGregor claiming Nate Diaz was “three times the size” of “Notorious” at both UFC 196 and UFC 202, but it’s up there.
I guess MMA math isn’t just for UFC records anymore.
Bisping expressed his acknowledgement to Jake Paul if that’s the kind of spectacle people desire, but he found the whole event to be an absurdity. In his opinion, the fight should have never happened in the first place due to its chaotic nature. Bisping pointed out that Jake Paul had a clear advantage as the larger fighter, and emphasized the importance of weight classes in boxing. Jake Paul’s behavior and boasting greatly irritate Bisping, especially when he selectively chooses opponents who are considerably smaller and less experienced.
Bisping, now 45, had a fantastic, hall-of-fame career and was an important part of building the UFC brand in Europe. Why someone with his accolades is continually bothered by the antics of Paul is puzzling, unless “The Count” is hoping to score his own fight against “El Gallo” after missing the boat back in early 2021.
