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Michael Bisping Not Expecting Walk in the Park Against Kelvin Gastelum
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Michael Bisping said he’s not expecting an easy fight against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night 122. Here are highlights:
On earning respect from some of his critics: “It’s weird – for most of my career, I’ve been Public Enemy No. 1. It’s a refreshing change – I’ve been getting a lot of compliments from people. … To be honest, I just don’t understand why someone in my position wouldn’t take that fight. I’ve got no injuries from the last one, I’m in shape, I had a tremendous training camp (for St-Pierre). The fight didn’t go my way – for whatever reason, it wasn’t clicking on the night. That’s just the way it goes – I had a bad night at the office. I get a chance now to go out there and fight the way I wanted to fight.”
On getting cleared by doctors for an early return: “(UFC President) Dana (White) was very adamant that I go through a bunch of medical hoops, which was a pain in the ass. It was a very, very stressful week. But I’m good, I’m fine, I passed all my medicals – I’m great.”
On Kelvin Gastelum: “I work as an analyst – I’ve broken down his fights many times. Kelvin’s a great guy. I’ve got nothing bad to say about Kelvin. This isn’t on pay-per-view – I’m not trying to sell pay-per-views or any of that. Kelvin seems like a very, very nice guy – apart from the fact he does a little bit too much pouting on Instagram. Other than that, he seems like a lovely guy. Great fighter, good hands, good wrestler. He’s got some good wins – he beat some guys I didn’t beat. Granted, they’re not on steroids anymore. I’m expecting a tough fight. I’m not expecting a walk in the park. What I am expecting is a smaller guy with a shorter reach, without the experience. If I fight the way I fight, I’ll win this fight pretty handily. But we’ll see what happens.”