Thoughts On Michael Bisping's Use Of Homophobic Language At UFC 298

It's been more than a week since UFC commentator Michael Bisping signed off of the UFC 298 broadcast by saying of the freshly minted UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, "15 and 0, undefeated, 13 stoppages, what a guy, what a night." After a lengthy pause, Bisping quipped, "What a guy?' That's 'f–king gay.”

It was not the first time Bisping made homophobic remarks.

In 2011, in the lead-up to his fight against Jorge Rivera at UFC 127, Bisping called Rivera a "f—-t motherf–ker" during their weigh-in face-off.

Then, in 2016, Bisping got in a verbal tiff with Luke Rockhold after he took the UFC middleweight title from Rockhold via first-round knockout at UFC 199.

"Go f–k yourself … f–king c–ksucker," Bisping said before calling Rockhold a "F—-t."

Bisping then faced the media that was on hand for that altercation and said, "S–t, I shouldn't have said that, delete that comment."

In 2019, Bisping addressed his use of homophobic slurs (or according to him , slur) during a video conversation with JOE.

When asked if he regretted the use of homophobic language, Bisping seemed contrite.

"One million percent I do, yes, because I'm not homophobic in the slightest," said the UFC champion turned UFC commentator. "It sounds easy to say, but I have a lot of gay and trans friends; I do. I had dinner Saturday night with a good friend of mine; he used to be Michael, and now he's MJ; he's a woman. He shows up in an ankle-length leopard dress. God bless him, and he looks pretty bloody good."

During that chat, Bisping claimed he only used a homophobic slur one time and that it was during a heated argument. He added that he had apologized profusely and was "doing it again right now."

He also seemingly defended using that slur by saying that growing up in the 90s, "it was a different time."

And here's where one can use Bisping's own words against him.

"For me, whenever I've said the word that starts with f, I've never actually meant it to do with anything that with somebody's sexual preference… I intended to call them a wimp. That was my understanding of it when I was young, and that's generally what it means."

And that's precisely why Bisping's use of "the word that starts with f" and saying that his remarks at UFC 298 were "f–king gay" are homophobic, because he used those words in a way that was meant to imply that they were "less than” something, in this case, I’m assuming Bisping’s idea of what it means to be a man.

In 2019 Bisping admitted he knew his language was wrong, "I understand that that is an offensive comment, and it causes offense to certain people," said Bisping. "So if that's the case, you've got to be smart enough and intelligent enough to go around not using words that offend people."

I understand why the MMA media don't want to call Bisping out on this. He's generally seen as a good broadcaster, and many appreciate him for his sense of humor and self-deprecating manner. There's also the worry that by bringing up something Bisping said on a UFC broadcast, they could be viewed badly by the UFC. Also hanging over this is the potential pushback of the nameless and faceless social media accounts that are sitting at their keyboards waiting to attack someone for being "woke."

Of course, none of these are legitimate reasons to avoid bringing it up since Bisping himself seems to know, according to his past remarks, that what he said was offensive.

Bisping , who is now 44 years old, should apologize, and he should acknowledge that he screwed up. I'm not saying he should be fired or lose his job for it; that's not something that's going to happen under the UFC's "you can say anything you want" policy of 2024, but he should recognize his mistake, own it, and try to be better going forward. Is that too much to ask?

*I reached out to the UFC for comment on Bisping’s remarks. The promotion did not respond before publication. I will update the story if they do.