Michael Bisping has opened up on his recent exchange with Colby Covington.

If you recall, Covington picked up a decision win over former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos to win the interim welterweight title in the co-main event of the main card for the UFC 225 pay-per-view event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

During the UFC 225 post-fight show on FOX Sports 1 after the event, the newly crowned interim champ spoke with Karyn Bryant, Kenny Florian, Michelle Waterson, and Bisping about his big win, which ultimately led to an exchange with the former UFC middleweight champion.

Moving along, just a few days after the incident, Bisping took to his Believe You Me podcast to talk about the exchange.

“He came right hot out of the gate,” Bisping said. ”I get it, the guy’s charged and he’s kind of made a career out of being controversial and what-not. Maybe if I could do it again I’d calm down, I‘d bring it down just a notch but the first thing he said was ‘Hey, I’ve got all my haters in one spot. Blah blah blah.’ So I said, hold on a minute, just listen, we actually gave you a lot of compliments. . .

“Colby Covington, he’s mister controversy. Everywhere he goes he tries to create controversy. For crying out loud he Tweets out spoilers to the new Star Wars movies and things like that. So when he came on, the first thing he did was, ‘f**k you guys up there on the panel. Kiss my ass, you all picked me to lose!’ So I thought, okay here we go, we’ve got Colby Covington in rare form – this is what he likes to do – so I thought maybe I’d be a sparring partner for him.

“I wasn’t offended by anything that he said. . . I thought if Colby wants to have a Colby-esque moment and create drama and controversy then I’ll be a sparring partner with him. I gave it back to him a little bit.“


Following the segment going around online through the power of social media, UFC announcer Jon Anik criticized Bisping for the way he handled the situation and even went as far as stating that behavior “disgraceful.”

Anik would later apologize for his comments. This led to Bisping accepting the apology and even stated on this podcast that he doesn’t have any ill will towards Anik.

“We all have different styles,” Bisping joked. ”Jon obviously wouldn’t do that – and I love Jon, don’t get me wrong, I‘m having a bit of fun here – but we’ve got different styles. Jon wouldn’t have done that and I wouldn’t go to social media to berate a colleague. We’ve all just got different styles.”

“Those comments stung a little bit,” Bisping said. ”If you’ve got a problem, maybe just shoot me a text, maybe give me some advice. Maybe say, ‘Yo Mike, just giving you some advice as a friend. When you’re in that position, try and separate yourself as a fighter.’ Maybe try and guide me along. Don’t say, ‘Hey, I’m hoping this motherf**ker gets fired. He definitely needs to be reprimanded by Fox and this is disgraceful and he should be ashamed.’

“There’s no beef. I respect Jon greatly. I respect him as a commentator, I respect him as a professional, and as a person. I truly do, I’m just having a bit of fun with it. He said it, he apologized, whatever. I couldn’t care less. I’m not in the habit of trying to make enemies. I’m trying to make friends and not hold grudges against people for a silly little Tweet.“