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Michael Bisping Not Expecting Walk in the Park Against Kelvin Gastelum

November 22, 2017 | Posted by Joseph Lee

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.”

article topics :

Michael Bisping, Joseph Lee