Bisping regrets taking Gastelum bout at end of career

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping wishes he didn't take a fight against Kelvin Gastelum just three weeks after losing the belt to Georges St-Pierre in 2017.

Bisping then lost the short-notice bout with Gastelum - who was originally slated to face Anderson Silva before the ex-champ failed a drug test - in Shanghai, China, via first-round knockout and retired from the sport six months later.

"The Count" says it wasn't smart to agree to fight Gastelum so soon after being submitted by St-Pierre.

"I do regret doing that Kelvin Gastelum fight because I had no business doing that," Bisping told Submission Radio. "I was over-trained. In fact, I didn’t train for that fight whatsoever. I was over-trained from the GSP one. Then I went on the piss for a couple of weeks, and then flew out to China with my mates, you know what I mean? He was training for the biggest fight of his life, and I had already been choked out a couple of weeks ago. So, the conditions weren’t right."

Bisping said he knew he was close to retirement after his second title defense against St-Pierre and ultimately chose to fight Gastelum because "there was a lot of money on the table."

"I got into (fighting) to give my family a better life," he added.

Bisping said he called it quits partially due to fear he'd go blind after injuring his eye against Gastelum. The Brit has dealt with vision issues since 2013 when he suffered a detached retina in a loss to Vitor Belfort. He currently wears a prosthesis in his right eye socket.

Before the two-fight skid that closed out his career, Bisping had won five in a row, including a first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold to capture the 185-pound title and a decision over Silva.