Bengaluru, May 30: Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has officially confirmed his retirement from mixed martial arts due to an eye injury.
Bisping, who defeated Luke Rockhold by knockout to claim the belt at UFC 199, called an end to his career.
"I am going to announce my official retirement from mixed martial arts," said Bisping on his Believe You Me podcast, adding that an eye injury sustained in his 2013 loss to Vitor Belfort played a role.
"It's been a long journey. I started training in 2003 so 15 years as a professional fighter."
Utterly blown away by all the beautiful messages regarding my retirement. I have so many people I need to thanks but right now, thank you for the kind words. I should retire more often 😂😂😂
— michael (@bisping) May 29, 2018
The 39-year-old made one defence of the belt, overcoming Dan Henderson by decision, before being beaten by St-Pierre and followed it with another defeat where he was brutally knocked out by Kelvin Gastelum in UFC Shanghai.
That fight against Gastelum where he stepped in to replace Anderson Silva seems to have done the damage for the Briton. He suffered a detached retina in his right eye five years ago which required surgery and revealed problems surfaced in his left eye after his setback against Gastelum.
Bisping added: "You can't do it forever, I've done it for a long time. Obviously, I've got issues with my eye, and after the Gastelum fight I started having issues with my good eye."
Also known as 'The Count', the Brit Bisping ends his MMA journey with a record of 30 victories and nine defeats and holds the joint records for the most UFC fights (29) and wins in the company (20).
One of those victories came against Silva, which is still regarded as one of the all-time great fights, and it also put him in pole position to face Rockhold after Chris Weidman pulled out due to injury.
Despite the late notice, Bisping avenged an earlier defeat to Rockhold which was a career highlight for the Brit.
The 39-year-old was actually eyeing one final fight and held out hope of a homecoming bout in London but admitted his decision to walk away was in part due to issues with both eyes.
"I said I was going to be done fighting after the Gastelum fight - but then I did contemplate another fight.
"I was negotiating with the UFC to fight Rashad Evans in London which is probably a good thing that that never happened.
"It ain't worth it. I mean, what else am I going to do? I've won the belt, I've had tons of wins, I've done everything I set out to achieve, what's the point?
"You've got to know when to walk away. I'm almost 40 years old and the time is now."
It’s been fun my friend @bisping I’m excited to see what’s next for you!!! pic.twitter.com/58F72Wie3k
— Dana White (@danawhite) May 29, 2018