Michael Bisping isn’t known as the biggest, strongest or most muscle-bound fighter in the UFC middleweight division.
The British MMA veteran is more identified with his incredible heart, endurance and freakish cardio in fights.
Even if he’s not the most ripped or muscular athlete in the division, he is certainly one of the fittest around, with a resting heart rate around 34 beats per minute.
But somewhere since his historic vanquishing of the legendary Anderson Silva and the last few days of his shot at Luke Rockhold’s middleweight strap, Bisping got hench.
It’s not gone unnoticed by fans either who have reacted with surprise to see that Bisping is packing some serious guns as he gets a few final days of training in before the UFC 199 main event on Saturday.
He shared a photo on Instagram of a session in his back yard out in Orange County, California, and you can see what we’re talking about.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGFSk6pStT3/
Fans couldn’t believe the shape The Count just days out from the title shot he has waited almost 10 years to the day for.
https://twitter.com/Red4life89/status/737722405930602496
https://twitter.com/NidjdN/status/737724865969565697
You look in great shape. Hurt him, humiliate him, hold the belt aloft.
— Jon (@Jhowell1214) May 31, 2016
Even though Bisping only too the fight at two and a half weeks’ notice after ex-champ Chris Weidman pulled out injured, Bisping explained why he is in such incredible shape.
It’s because he has been training for his role on Vin Diesel’s new xXx film which began filming in Canada last month, he told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour.
“Because I was doing the movie I was trying to keep in good condition. Being as vain as I am, I wanted to look good for the camera.
“So I was keeping my weight low. If it wasn’t low, fighting for the belt wouldn’t have been a realistic opportunity because I wouldn’t have made weight.
“From accepting the fight until now my weight is at 203lbs, which is where I am after a normal training camp
“I came back and did some pad work and my conditioning is right where it usually is.”
Bisping actually thinks taking the fight at short notice has helped his preparations for the fight as he’s not drilled himself into the ground training through a full camp.
Last week he explained why:
“By the end of the camp my conditioning’s good, but I’ve lost strength, I’ve gone from being confident to negative and then negative to confident and all these mixed emotions with a rollercoaster going up and down.
“But there’s no time for that. My weight is good, my conditioning is good, I’m going to train like a madman for the next 10 days, I’m going to go in confident with no injuries and this time in a fortnight I could well be the new world champion.”
