Michael Bisping was at his best in Manchester

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Sometimes when you combine two things it just creates magic: Siegfried and Roy, chocolate and peanut butter, Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese. In mixed martial arts you have UFC Hall of Famer Michael "The Count" Bisping and Manchester.

From an MMA standpoint, the relationship between Bisping and Manchester started May 30, 2004 when he knocked out John Weir in 50 seconds in the second fight of his career. He would not fight in the city again for almost three years. In the mean time he went on to become the Cage Rage and Cage Warriors light heavyweight champion. After that the UFC came calling, and Bisping was invited to compete in the light heavyweight tournament on season three of The Ultimate Fighter.

Bisping ran through the bracket, finishing his first two opponents in the first round before defeating Josh Haynes in the second round of the tournament finals. With his outspoken personality and exciting fighting style, Bisping's run on the show made him a polarizing figure, fans either loved him or hated him. This led to him competing on the main card of UFC 66, a highly anticipated rematch between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, in his UFC debut. He finished Eric Schafer with punches in the opening round. The UFC potentially had their first British star.

The UFC returned to England for the first time in five years when the Octagon touched down in Manchester for UFC 70. To no one's surprise Bisping was booked in a featured bout on the main card of the pay per view. Bisping knocked out Elvis "The King of Rock and Rumble" Sinosic in just over six minutes, earning a Fight of the Night bonus in the process. This would be the start of a theme for Bisping, where his best performances would be linked to Manchester.

After suffering his first career defeat to fellow The Ultimate Fighter winner Rashad Evans, Bisping made the move down to middleweight. He would rattle off three straight wins before losing a title eliminator in devastating fashion to Dan Henderson at UFC 100. Needing to rebound from that defeat, he was booked just four months later to fight Denis Kang at UFC 105 in Manchester. Once again, BIsping put on an incredible show for the Manchester crowd, stopping Kang with punches in the second round enroute to another Fight of the Night bonus. Bisping's career would have its ups and downs until he put together a three fight win streak and fate intervened.

Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was set to defend his belt against former champion Chris Weidman, when Weidman suffered a neck injury and was forced to pull out of the fight. Bisping stepped in on 17 days notice with an opportunity to not only avenge a prior loss to Rockhold, but also to finally fight for a UFC title in his 26th fight in the promotion. To top it all off the card was taking place in... Inglewood, California. However, the venue was located on Manchester Boulevard, so it was almost a foregone conclusion we were going to get a memorable performance from Bisping. Sure enough, he was able to secure the TKO victory at just over three and a half minutes of the opening round. On top of earning another Performance of the Night bonus, Bisping also became England's first UFC champion. The UFC knew just where to book his first title defense.

Manchester played home for the rematch between Bisping and Henderson. Not only was the newly crowned champion getting an opportunity to headline a pay per view in Manchester, he was also getting an opportunity to avenge another of the losses on his record. The back and forth affair was an instant classic and in addition to defending his belt, Bisping earned another yet another Fight of the Night bonus. It would be the last time that Bisping fought in Manchester.

Injuries took their toll and Bisping would retire just two fights later. After his retirement in came to light that he had been fighting the last portion of his career only being able to see out of his left eye. Bisping had a storied career, especially when it comes to being in Manchester. He fought in Manchester three times in the UFC and earned Fight of the Night honors each time. He won the championship that had eluded him for so long on Manchester Boulevard. Throw in the fact that he met the future Mrs. Bisping in Manchester as well and one could say Manchester had been pretty good to Bisping. In mixed martial arts there are certain figures that have been lifted to mythical status, Motivated BJ Penn, "Mystic Mac" Conor McGregor, and the horse meat eating "Ubereem" version of Alistair Overeem. I would like to submit a new name to the pantheon of mythical MMA figures, "Manchester Mike".