Former UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who is retired from professional MMA, believes he’d be able to beat the current champion “pretty easily”.
Israel Adesanya is set to defend his UFC Middleweight title against Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 248 this weekend. This will be the champions 1st UFC title defense, since winning the belt from Robert Whittaker at UFC 243.
Michael Bisping appeared on a recent episode of MMA Tonight on Sirius XM. He was asked about the upcoming main event title fight at UFC 248. Bisping praised both, Adesanya and Yoel Romero, but also said that if he wasn’t retired, he’d be able to take the belt off Adesanya “pretty easily”.
“Listen, and here’s the real thing, if I was still fighting, I’d take that belt off him [Israel Adesanya] pretty easily, but I’m not,” Bisping said. “So, listen, I like Adesanya — I’m a massive fan of the guy — he’s a great personality, he’s a great fighter and I’m a fan of Yoel as well, it’s going to be a good one.”
While he does think he’d be able to beat Adesanya easily, Bisping did praise the current champion and picked him to win at UFC 248.
“Stylebender on the flip side, he’s got the height, the reach, the range, the diversity of strikes, he’s got excellent footwork, he does pivot off well,” Bisping said. “I don’t know who is going to win but if I had to put money on this, I’d definitely lean towards Israel Adesanya.”
Since the start of his UFC run, Israel Adesanya has been praised highly by fans and media, including Bisping himself. Still, the former champion believes that it’s too early to put Adesanya in the mix for the greatest champions in Middleweight history.
“In terms of best champions that we’ve ever had, I mean come on mate, he’s only just f***ing won the belt, it’s a little too early for that talk,” Bisping said.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 6th March, 2020.
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