Michael Bisping

Andrzej Bobola Bisping von Gallen fled with his family from Poland to England after the Soviet invasion in September 1939.

Many members of the noble families were pursued and executed by Soviet Red Army during World War II, including Andrew's father, Jan, who was named after his own grandfather (Andrew's father), served in the British Army.

Michael's mother is from Northern Ireland.

Bisping has described himself as "English through and through".

He began training Jujutsu at the age of eight.

Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC.

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).

At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training "to pursue real-life".

Less than a year later, Bisping began training in boxing, kickboxing, and karate on the advice of Allan Clarkin, owner of Black Knights Kickboxing, who saw potential in him.

Bisping enjoyed a short but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title.

After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time.

Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, he was forced to abandon his full-time training for a "real job".

In addition to working at factories, slaughterhouses, and demolition companies, he was also an upholsterer, postman, tiler, plasterer, and salesman.

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.

Bisping made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on 4 April 2004, taking a 0:38 submission victory over Steve Mathews.

Just one month later, Bisping scored his first knockout against John Weir at UK MMA Challenge 7: Rage & Fury.

In his third MMA match, Bisping was scheduled to face the experienced Renato Sobral at Cage Rage 7 but his opponent pulled out ten days before the event.

Instead, Bisping defeated Mark Epstein by technical knockout and became the Cage Rage light heavyweight champion.

Bisping went on to defend his championship title in a rematch against Epstein at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified Bisping as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in England.

It also earned him the moniker "The Great British Hope", by UFC.

com.

At The Ultimate Fight Club UK: Natural Instinct on 29 January 2005, Bisping made his cage kickboxing debut against David Brown in a light heavyweight contest.

With Brown badly cut, Bisping picked up the win via doctor stoppage in round 2.

Bisping made his debut for the promotion at Ultimate Force on 30 April 2005, defeating Dave Radford to win the vacant Cage Warriors light heavyweight title.

Bisping then competed in another light heavyweight cage kickboxing contest, against Cyrille Diabaté at CWFC: Strike Force 1 on 21 May 2005, losing via decision after the end of the first extra round.

He captured the FX3 light-heavyweight title on 18 June 2005 and, for a time, reigned over the UK's major federations.

In his first Cage Warriors title defense, Bisping defeated Miika Mehmet at CWFC: Strike Force 2, on 16 July 2005.

In September 2005, Cage Rage stripped the light heavyweight title from Bisping due to "management issues", though Cage Warriors stated that "Bisping was willing to defend his title but is being punished by Cage Rage due to his Wolfslair and Cage Warriors links".

Towards the end of 2005, Bisping again successfully defended the Cage Warriors title, this time against Jakob Lovstad and Ross Pointon in the CWFC: Strike Force series of events, leading to a record of 10 wins and no losses.

In early 2006, Bisping was featured on the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality television series as a contestant training under Tito Ortiz.

He won a preliminary bout against Kristian Rothaermel by TKO, followed by a semi-final win against Ross Pointon by submission after landing a flying knee and a series of strikes.

He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on 5 July 2019.

Bisping was born on a British military base in Nicosia, Cyprus.

He is one of five children born to Jan Konrad Bisping and Kathleen ( Armitage) Bisping.

and grew up in Clitheroe, Lancashire.

He attended St Augustine's Roman Catholic High School, Billington.

Michael's Polish paternal grandfather, Andrew (Andrzej Bobola Bisping von Gallen), was born in what is now Masaliany, Byerastavitsa Rayon, Hrodna Voblasts, Belarus, descended from German nobility who moved to Poland in the Middle Ages and was a member of the noble Polish Zamoyski family (through his mother) while Michael's English paternal grandmother, Mary Greenwood, was from Clitheroe.

Michael is also related to the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies and the Spanish Royal Family through one of his great great grandmothers Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, making him a 5x great grandson of King Charles IV of Spain.