Michael Bisping was the special quest at the UFC Fan Q&A yesterday prior to the UFC 149 weigh-ins, and he entertained the Canadian fans with his typically outspoken and cheeky banter.
Bisping took pot-shots at a few fighters, but it was his fellow middleweight Hector Lombard who took the brunt of the abuse.
“You know I bumped into Hector Lombard for the first time yesterday in the elevator and I thought someone was playing a practical joke,” Bisping told the crowd. “I was like, ‘Who is this little poison dwarf?’ He’s about this big [motions knee-high]. I was like, ‘come on, seriously?’ Seriously? This is the guy with all the hype?’
“I think he’s in the wrong weight-class. There’s a 125lb weight class I think he should be in. He was obviously not getting enough sleep when he was a kid or his mum was smoking or something because his growth has been majorly stunted.”
After those below-the-belt comments Bisping did go on to acknowledge that he could see why Lombard has been touted as a potential challenger for Anderson Silva’s title given his impressive 25-fight unbeaten run, but he couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the level of opponent’s he’s faced during that run.
“I don’t know where he’s been fighting and who these people are that he’s been beating, but I’ve never heard of any of them. Bloody part time builders and bakers from round the corner, you know? This is the UFC now, this is the real deal.”
Bisping then rounded things off by dropping another quip in about Lombard’s diminutive stature.
“We’ll see how he does tomorrow night. I’m sure he’ll do fine as long as someone gives him a hand to get into the cage, maybe give him a little step up to get in, he’ll be alright. Maybe he can stand on someone’s shoulders.”
I can’t lie, I laughed, but one thing’s for sure is that the 5ft 9″ Lombard won’t see the funny side of it as the Cuban fighter is known for his short fuse and firey temper.
He’s already refused to speak to MMAfighting reporter Ariel Helwani this week as he thinks he’s an instigator, and raised eyebrows when he stated that rather than get a fight with Anderson Silva he wanted to fight Mark Munoz because he had taken exception to some things that Munoz had said about him.
Bear in mind that at one stage Lombard, all 5ft 9″ and 185lbs of him, at one stage also had bad blood with 6ft 3″, 248lb heavyweight star Josh Barnett stemming from a reported gym war between them which lead to Lombard publicly calling him out to a fight in the cage!
So if and when Lombard gets wind of Bisping’s latest comments, you can be assured that if he ever happens to bump into Lombard in an elevator again then things could get out of hand very quickly indeed!
Watch more of Bisping’s Q&A below.
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