Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently revealed an awkward family moment that left him blindsided: his son Callum competed in his first amateur MMA bout without telling him.
The revelation came during an episode of the Believe You Me podcast, where Bisping shared the uncomfortable details of discovering his son’s fight plans through someone else.
The situation unfolded when Bisping and his wife Rebecca went out for breakfast on a Friday morning. They unexpectedly ran into Callum with his girlfriend and her mother at the same restaurant.
When the girlfriend’s mother asked if they were attending “the fight,” Bisping found himself playing along to avoid looking foolish, despite having no idea what she was talking about.
“I’m like playing along,” Bisping explained. “And so Callum told his girlfriend obviously because he told his girlfriend and his girlfriend told her mom. So she said I want to come in and fly in but he hadn’t told us.”
The former champion admitted he was “fuming” at first but came to understand his son’s perspective. After the awkward breakfast encounter, Bisping texted Callum to discuss the situation. His son explained that he wanted to do this on his own terms, without the pressure and spectacle that comes with being the son of a UFC Hall of Famer.
Bisping respected his son’s decision, acknowledging the enormous pressure Callum faces. “Your dad’s a former middleweight f**king champion of the world and a Hall of Famer in the UFC. You’re going to feel…,” his co-host Paul Felder noted, understanding why Bisping’s son wanted to forge his own path.
Despite the initial surprise, Bisping attended the fight at a Las Vegas casino, where approximately a thousand people watched Callum compete at heavyweight, weighing in at 237 pounds. The venue was a proper production with a boxing ring, though Bisping had to purchase his own ticket for sixty-five dollars to get in.
Callum dominated his opponent using his wrestling background, securing takedowns, achieving full mount, and nearly finishing with a rear-naked choke before time ran out in the two-minute rounds. “He dominated the fight. He dominated,” Bisping said proudly.
The irony wasn’t lost on co-host Paul Felder, who praised Callum’s approach. “I love that he did that,” Felder said, noting that it allowed Callum to handle the pressure without his father worrying about every detail beforehand.
After the victory, Bisping offered some fatherly advice. “I’d like to be able to help if you do this again because, believe it or not, I know a little bit about this,” he told his son.
