Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a former Light Heavyweight UFC World Champion. Last week after beating Eryk Anders at UFC FIGHT NIGHT in Brazil he called out the former middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his retirement fight.
Michael Bisping, who lost his last two fights to George Saint Pierre & Kelvin Gastelum and he responded to Machida by saying this:
“He’s had a great career, and it ticks all the boxes (for my retirement fight) from that standpoint, that’s about it. As of right now, I’ve got to speak to the UFC and find out what’s going on for myself. I’m not considering opponents or who they are. I’ve got to speak to (UFC President) Dana (White) and the UFC guys and figure out what’s going on next and in life.”
“He just said we were supposed to fight a couple of times over the years and that it hadn’t happened and that basically he had a lot of respect for me,” Bisping said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Machida, I really do. He’s one of the true martial arts specialists and one of the true martial artists that compete in the octagon, so I have respect for him. Of course, there was the whole steroid issue, … there’s always going to be an asterisk over him.”
“I’ve (got) no problem with the decision, but what I do have a problem with is what Machida said afterwards,” Bisping continued. “I’m only joking, I don’t really have a problem with it; he called me out once again.”