Michael Bisping (born 28 February 1979) is an English sports analyst, actor, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor since 2004, he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion, a former Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight tournament winner. At UFC 78, he became the first British fighter to compete in a UFC main event. At UFC 199, he became the first British fighter to win a UFC Championship and he remains the sole British winner of a UFC title. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on 5 July 2019.
Bisping was born on a British Military Base in Nicosia, Cyprus and grew up in Clitheroe, Lancashire. He attended St Augustine's Roman Catholic High School, Billington. His Polish paternal grandfather, Andrew (Andrzej), fled with his family from Poland to England after the German invasion in 1939. Bisping's father Jan was in the British Army; his mother is Irish. He began training Jujutsu at the age of eight. In 1994, at the age of 15, he competed as an amateur in Britain's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO).