UFC: Michael Bisping's 5 Biggest Controversies

3. Eye Pokes And Accusations Of Being A Dirty Fighter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK2lJ9lljQI Accusations of fighting dirty aren't exactly rare in MMA - a number of fighters believe light heavyweight Jon Jones to be dirty, for example, as he targets the knees of opponents with oblique kicks. Rampage Jackson went so far as to say the kicks should be outlawed. So it's not a major surprise that Bisping, disliked by many UFC fighters, has been accused of fighting dirty. Is there any evidence to back it up? Well, at UFC 127, in a fight with Jorge Rivera that would go down in infamy, Bisping threw an illegal knee that he claimed was accidental - but most observers, including Dana White, felt otherwise. Here's what White had to say: "Michael Bisping€™s in trouble right now. Michael Bisping€™s a guy who I liked and have had a good relationship with since The Ultimate Fighter, but I€™m very disappointed in the way he conducted himself during that fight. I think the knee was intentional. I think he did do it on purpose. He saw him in that position, looked at him, then threw the knee." When your boss thinks you intentionally broke the rules and put another fighter's safety in jeopardy, then you've got a serious problem on your hands. The incident, though, would eventually blow over, and Bisping would once again get back to fighting. Two years later, however, in a fight with potential title contender Alan Belcher, Bisping unleashed an eye poke, and more controversy. It was Bisping's last win to date, and it was the eye poke that officially won him the fight - though there's a good chance he would have won it anyway. However, after blatantly poking Belcher in the eye, the fight had to be stopped, and Bisping picked up the win. After the fight, he had the following to say, making more trouble for himself: "I could read all his movements, he seemed quite slow to me... I think, you know, he laid on the floor a little bit, I think maybe. Who knows? I think maybe he looked for a way out." The reality of the incident was much different. Thanks to Bisping's inability to keep his fingers out of Belcher's eye, Belcher required over twelve stitches - and he had already underwent two surgeries for a detached retina in that same eye.