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The recent UFC 286 event sparked a heated exchange between two UFC legends, Justin Gaethje and Michael Bisping. Gaethje, who fought and won his match against Fiziev, took issue with Bisping's commentary during the main event, a bout between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards.
Gaethje believed that Bisping was biased towards Edwards, who is his compatriot, and that his comments misled the public into thinking that Edwards deservedly won the match
.A Critique of Bias
"I thought (Usman) won the fight, but I’m probably as biased as the judges.
Certainly not as biased as Michael Bisping. He shouldn’t have been nowhere near a microphone during that fight. It sucks," Gaethje said during his post-fight scrum. He added, "It’s not my call (to have him on the broadcast or not).
I just thought it was very unprofessional." Bisping, never one to shy away from a challenge, responded to Gaethje's critique via his YouTube channel. Bisping wanted to defuse tensions, but he felt compelled to share his side of the story.
The Human Mind at Work
"Justin’s just being a loyal friend and a loyal teammate. 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," Bisping said. "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." Bisping maintained that he believed Edwards was the rightful winner of the match and completely understood where Gaethje was coming from. "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," Bisping explained.
Texts and Tensions
Bisping also revealed that he texted Gaethje asking for an explanation, to which Gaethje responded with "LOL." Bisping only congratulated Gaethje on his victory against Fiziev and emphasized that he did not want to instigate any kind of feud with him. He respected Gaethje's desire to be a good friend and teammate.
