Michael Bisping
Bisping says illegal knee at UFC 127 was unintentional and that Jorge Rivera should get over it.
Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera quickly turned into a grudge match fueled by trash talk in interviews and a series of videos put out by Rivera leading up to the UFC 127 co-main event.
The two had to be separated following the pre-fight press conference and during the official weigh-in.
During the fight, Bisping landed an illegal knee to the head of Rivera that nearly caused an end to the fight. Bisping maintains the knee was unintentional.
“The knee clearly wasn’t on purpose,” said Bisping. “You get excited in the heat of the fight. He was getting up off the ground. I had him in a Thai clinch. I was waiting to time it to knee him in the head. I got a little over-excited and pulled the trigger too early.
“It happens quite a lot. It’s a fast-moving sport. I certainly didn’t mean to do it, and I was very glad that the fight was able to continue. No one wants to see a fight won or lost in that fashion.”
The fight was eventually restarted and a point was deducted from Bisping. The Brit finished Rivera by technical knockout with a series of strikes shortly thereafter.
After the fight, Bisping exchanged words with Rivera and his camp, allegedly spitting toward them. UFC president Dana White had to tell Bisping to “keep his cool.”
“Regarding after the fight, there were a lot of emotions. He was very, very insulting towards me, very insulting. He was mocking me on the Internet saying all kinds of things, making stupid videos talking about myself and my family – all kinds of stuff,” said Bisping.
“I bit my tongue and I said nothing, but it built up inside me and I blew up a little bit. I apologize for that. I shouldn’t behave like that, but I think he needs to just accept he got beat and get over it. “
Rivera’s camp called for Bisping to be suspended for the illegal knee and his post-fight antics.
Reacting to Rivera’s camp suggestion, Bisping said, “It doesn’t surprise me, really. It’s just one classless thing after another, I suppose.”
