Michael Bisping responds to Justin Gaethje's commentary 'bias' claims
By Amy Kaplan
Michael Bisping has responded to Justin Gaethje calling his commentary "biased" and "unprofessional" after UFC 286.
On Saturday night in London, Justin Gaethje took aim at Michael Bisping over his commentary for the Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman fight.
“I thought [Usman] won the fight,” Gaethje said (h/t MMA Fighting). “But I’m probably as biased as the judges. Certainly not as biased as Michael Bisping, who shouldn’t have been nowhere near a microphone during that fight. It sucks.”
Edwards and Bisping are both British.
On Monday night Bisping addressed the comments on his YouTube channel, and surprisingly took the high road.
“Justin’s just being a loyal friend and a loyal teammate,” Bisping said. “When you’re watching a fight and you want your friend, your teammate to win, the good stuff that they do, in your mind, is emphasized. It is amplified. It is a bigger deal than what it is. And the stuff that the opponent does to your friend, you dismiss it. … That’s just the human mind. That’s how we work. When someone that we respect, when someone that’s our friend that we’re supporting, when they’re doing well, we amplify it in our mind. When anything bad happens, we play it down."
He went on to say, "So Justin firmly believes in his head that Kamaru won that fight. And because I said on the microphone afterwards, ‘Well, Leon clearly won that fight,’ which I thought that he did in a close fight – in a close fight. All the rounds were close. Leon didn’t smoke him in any of the rounds, but I thought generally Kamaru might’ve had one or two rounds. Maybe one, maybe two. I’d have to watch it again. But listen, Leon won the fight. But all rounds were close, and Justin is just being a good teammate.”
He also backed up his commentary of the fight itself.
On Monday, fellow color commentator Jon Anik stood up for Bisping, saying that he has "zero agenda nor any bias" and that the job of a commentator is hard.
1) Must say in defense of my broadcast partner @bisping, the man has zero agenda nor any bias when calling fights. Might even have closer personal relationship w/ Kamaru Usman than he does Leon Edwards. He just felt as though Edwards controlled the stand-up, landed more cleanly.
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 20, 2023
2) The job of MMA commentator is not as hard as that of fighter, judge, or referee, but it's hard. We are judged on every utterance over 8+ hours and certainly there are things we'd love to take back. Someone is usually upset w/ something. Never had a perfect show. Never will.
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 20, 2023
Edwards won the fight via majority decision after several fouls.
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