Joe Rogan Critical Of Michael Bisping Fighting Twice In November
Michael Bisping competed twice in November, losing to Georges St. Pierre by submission at UFC 217 and then being knocked out by Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night Shanghai.
Longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has called many of Bisping’s fights and he doesn’t like the fact that the former middleweight champion fought twice in a month.
“I don’t think you should be allowed to fight three weeks after you have a brutal fight like Michael Bisping did with GSP,” Rogan said on The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show. “He got rocked, he got choked unconscious, and then three weeks later he’s fighting a really dangerous up-and-coming Kelvin Gastelum? Kelvin is a beast. He’s got nasty boxing and that’s what he showed in that fight. He hit him with a beautiful straight jab and a right hand behind it. That kid is just on fire. He’s on another level right now.”
Bisping competed at UFC Fight Night Shanghai after another former middleweight champion in Anderson Silva was pulled from the card due to a potential USADA violation.
Rogan also believes that the UFC needs to step up and start protecting the fighters from themselves.
“You really have to protect the fighter from themselves,” Rogan said. “You really can’t be letting a guy fight three weeks after a brutal fight like that. It just does not make sense. I don’t think it’s smart. I understand the UFC needed someone to fill in on short notice because Anderson Silva tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and they did not want to lose the Shanghai main event. It turns into an even bigger fight when you’ve got the former middleweight champion right off his loss. Three weeks later fight again? It’s just not smart. I know Bisping wanted to do it, I know Bisping would probably do it again. If you asked Bisping to fight in a few weeks he would probably do it again. Someone was talking about him fighting in England, probably in March. Boy, that’s less crazy, but still, crazy. We’re basically into December.”
The former UFC Middleweight Champion isn’t planning on returning to action until his retirement fight this March in London.
