Bisping aiming for 'two more wins' before retiring
Michael Bisping's days in the Octagon are numbered, and he knows it.
At 37, with nearly 40 pro fights under his belt - including a 10-year stint in the UFC - the reigning middleweight champ has already begun mapping out a tentative retirement plan, revealing Thursday on "SiriusXM Rush" he aims to add a pair of wins to his resume before calling it a career.
"I’m at the tail end of my career. I think everybody knows that. It’s not like I have a huge career ahead of me. I’ve got a huge career behind me," Bisping said, according to FOX Sports' Damon Martin.
"That is the plan two more wins and sayonara, buddy. We’ll see but that is the plan right now. Plans change. That would be a perfect scenario for me."
As the sole owner of the promotion's win record and one of its longest-tenured fighters, "The Count" isn't looking for a run-of-the-mill swan song. The way Bisping sees it, his seniority and longevity entitle him to a marquee matchup.
"The biggest fight possible and the biggest fight card possible. I want to be in a big event, I want to be on a big card. Is that too much to ask? I’ve been here forever doing this."
The champ has headlined each of the last four cards he's graced, successfully defending the title against Dan Henderson in his native Manchester at UFC 204 in his last outing. Bisping has since angled for superfights with the likes of Georges St-Pierre and Tyron Woodley as opposed to the cream of the middleweight crop, but some lingering injuries have derailed his campaign, as he's set to undergo knee surgery on Friday.
"I am scheduled for knee surgery tomorrow. Dana (White) offered me a couple of fights and I was hoping that the treatment I was having on my knee would be successful. I had some PRP (platelet rich plasma) where they spin the plasma in your blood and I was hoping that would work but I’ve got a torn meniscus, I’ve got loose bodies floating inside there, I’ve got some small fractures in my bone.
"I’ve got a lot of stuff going on so I’ve got to go under the knife tomorrow so I’m not looking forward to that."