Michael Bisping is a bit of a legend. Honestly, if you just look at the raw numbers on paper, you’re missing about ninety percent of what made the guy special. He finished his career with a professional record of 30 wins and 9 losses.
In the UFC specifically? He went 20-9.
Numbers are fine, but they’re kinda cold. They don't tell you that for half of those fights, he was basically fighting with one eye. They don't mention the years of being the "gatekeeper" before finally touching gold. Bisping wasn't just a fighter; he was the guy who out-grinded an entire generation of middleweights through sheer, stubborn willpower.
Breaking down the Michael Bisping UFC record
The path wasn't a straight line. It was more like a jagged mountain range. Bisping burst onto the scene by winning The Ultimate Fighter 3 as a light heavyweight, knocking out Josh Haynes in 2006.
He eventually realized he was a bit small for 205 pounds after a split-decision loss to Rashad Evans. That move to middleweight changed everything. In the 185-pound division, Bisping became a permanent fixture in the top ten.
He holds some seriously impressive tallies:
- Total Wins: 30 (20 in the UFC)
- Knockout Wins: 18
- Decision Wins: 10
- Submission Wins: 2
- Total Losses: 9 (mostly to absolute killers and legends)
What’s wild is the volume. Bisping was a workhorse. He held the record for the most fights in UFC history (29) at the time he retired, though that's been passed since. He also landed 1,567 significant strikes in his UFC career. That is a lot of leather.
The middleweight marathon
For years, it felt like Bisping was the bridesmaid but never the bride. He’d win three in a row, get to a title eliminator, and then hit a wall.
Remember the Dan Henderson fight at UFC 100? That H-Bomb knockout is one of the most replayed clips in the history of the sport. It could have broken a lesser man. Bisping just went back to the gym.
Then there was the Vitor Belfort fight in 2013. That’s the one that changed his life. A head kick from Belfort detached Bisping’s retina. From that moment on, his Michael Bisping UFC record was being built by a man with permanent vision issues. He had to pass eye exams by memorizing the charts. He was fighting the best in the world while essentially being legally blind in his right eye.
The miracle run of 2016
If you want to understand why fans obsess over his record, you have to look at 2016. It was arguably the greatest single year any UFC fighter has ever had.
He started by beating the GOAT, Anderson Silva, in London. It was a bloody, back-and-forth war where Bisping almost got finished by a flying knee while he was pointing at his fallen mouthpiece. He survived. He won.
Then came the call.
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Chris Weidman pulled out of a title fight against Luke Rockhold at UFC 199. Bisping took it on 17 days' notice. No one gave him a chance. He’d lost to Rockhold before. He was filming a movie. He was "old."
He knocked Rockhold out in the first round.
It was the ultimate "I told you so" moment. He became the first British champion in UFC history. He followed that up by defending the belt against his old nemesis, Dan Henderson, in Manchester. It was a poetic closing of the circle.
The final chapters
The end of the road came fast. In November 2017, he lost the belt to a returning Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 in Madison Square Garden.
Most people would have taken six months off. Not Mike.
He stepped up three weeks later to fight Kelvin Gastelum in China because the UFC needed a main event. He got caught and knocked out. That was the last time we saw "The Count" in the Octagon. He retired shortly after, finally admitting to the world that his "good" eye was starting to see flashes of light—a sign of another potential detachment.
What the record leaves behind
You can't talk about Bisping's stats without acknowledging the era he fought in. He was a vocal opponent of performance-enhancing drugs long before USADA came into the picture. Many of the losses on his record came against guys who later tested positive or were using TRT.
Bisping stayed clean. He stayed durable.
He ended his career with 16 wins in the middleweight division, which is still tied for the most in the history of that weight class. He spent over five hours of total fight time inside the Octagon.
Actionable takeaways for fans and analysts
If you're looking at the Michael Bisping UFC record to understand his greatness, look past the 30-9.
- Focus on the strength of schedule: He fought Silva, GSP, Rockhold, Henderson, Evans, Belfort, and Chael Sonnen. He never turned down a tough out.
- Value the longevity: To compete at the elite level from 2006 to 2017 is almost unheard of in MMA.
- Check the striking metrics: He wasn't a "one-punch" artist (until the Rockhold fight), but his volume and cardio were his real weapons.
The best way to respect the record is to watch the fights. Statistics provide the skeleton, but the heart Bisping showed in the Silva and Henderson (second) fights provides the soul. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019, cementing a legacy that was built on grit as much as it was on technique.
To get the full picture, you should compare his strike-landing frequency against modern middleweights. You'll find that Bisping’s "volume-first" approach actually pioneered the meta-game that many top-tier strikers use today. His ability to maintain a high pace while defending takedowns (64% career defense) remains a blueprint for European fighters trying to make it in the UFC.