Michael Bisping shocked the MMA community when just a week after losing his middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre. He accepted a short-notice fight against up-and-coming contender Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai. That decision didn’t work out too well for Bisping this past Saturday when he was brutally knocked out by Gastelum in the very first round. It was Bisping’s second brutal stoppage loss this month, and it’s now raising questions about the safety of allowing a fighter to compete so soon after suffering a serious loss.

Chief among the people discussing the safety of allowing fighters quick turnarounds is UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who said on his JRE MMA Show podcast, that Bisping should not have been allowed to take the Gastelum fight so soon after being dropped by St-Pierre.

“I don’t think you should be allowed to fight three weeks after you have a brutal fight like Michael Bisping did with GSP. He got rocked, he got choked unconscious, and then three weeks later, he’s fighting a really dangerous young and up-and-coming Kelvin Gastelum. Kelvin is a beast. . .

“Would he have been able to do that if he fought the Bisping who was training for Georges St-Pierre? If Bisping did not have the Georges St-Pierre fight and just went right into the Kelvin Gastelum fight, would the same result have happened?”

The three week turnaround was the shortest of Bisping’s career and also happens to be the first time Bisping has ever lost back-to-back fights. But more to the point, according to Rogan, it endangered Bisping’s health and all because the UFC wanted to save UFC Shanghai, after Anderson Silva was removed from the card for a USADA violation. For Rogan, that is short-sighted and dangerous thinking because Bisping is never going to say “no,” even if he should.

“You really have to protect the fighter from themselves. You really can’t be letting a guy fight three weeks after an absolutely brutal fight like that. It just does not make sense. It does not make sense. I don’t think it’s smart.

“I understand the UFC needed someone to fill in on short notice because Anderson Silva tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and they did not want to lose the Shanghai main event, so it turns into an even bigger fight when you’ve got the former middleweight champion right off his loss, three weeks later fighting again, but it’s just not smart. I know Bisping wanted to do it, and I know Bisping would probably do it again if you asked him to do it. If you asked Bisping to fight in a few weeks, he would probably do it again.”

It’s slightly longer than a few weeks but Bisping is in fact looking to have another pretty quick turnaround: the former middleweight champ has his sights set on a retirement bout when the UFC returns to London next March. Slightly over three months is still not a lot of time to recover, especially when a good part of that will be involve Bisping sparring in the gym, not allowing his brain to recover properly. And that’s the problem, Bisping is too tough for his own good.

“Someone was talking about him fighting in England, I believe in March. Boy, that’s less crazy, but still, crazy because we’re basically into December. So you’ve got December, January, February, three months off, really, and then March. But during that time he’s going to be sparring and you know Bisping, he’s a f**king animal. He’s not gonna take much time off.

“Fighters need time off after fights.”

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MUST-READ STORIES

Results. Kelvin Gastelum’s big win and the rest of UFC Shanghai’s results.

Farewell. Ben Askren quickly stopped Shinya Aoki in his retirement fight.

Fixing. Ex-UFC fighter jailed for involvement in fight-fixing scheme.

It’s Time. Jose Aldo says Conor McGregor needs to defend or vacate his UFC title.

Unfair. Rafael Carvalho thinks Gegard Mousasi doesn’t deserve next shot at his belt.

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VIDEO STEW

UFC 218 Countdown.

Free fight.

JJ getting remixed.

Eddie sparring ahead of 218.

T-Wood not having it with the haters.

Cyborg on Ronda.

Mir on Conor.

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LISTEN UP

Severe MMA. UFC 218, UFC Shanghai, the TUF Finale and more are discussed.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

And so it continues.

And Jimmie going with the Cody gameplan, play for play.

These things happen in MMA.

Sage going with the bit.

A bunch of savage KO and submissions from the weekend.

Congrats.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Thiago Santos (16-5) vs. Anthony Smith (28-12); UFC Belem, Feb 3.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Well UFC Shanghai ended up being more fun than anyone expected even if the main event was both expected and not all that fun. This week we’ve got a UFC doubleheader and a decent Bellator card on Friday so it’s a full slate. Keep it locked to MMA Fighting for all the big news this week and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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