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#1 Michael Bisping
Like it could’ve been anyone else. ‘The Count’ is not only the first and only UFC champion produced by the United Kingdom, but he’s also one of the most recognisable UFC fighters on the planet today and one of the longest-tenured too, with an incredible 28 UFC fights since his debut in 2006 and the 29th to come in just a couple of weeks time. Simply put, Bisping has become a UFC legend, and despite what his naysayers would claim, it’s down to his fighting skill and not just his penchant for brilliant trash talk.
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Bisping won the third season of the Ultimate Fighter at 205lbs, but it was his 2008 drop to 185lbs that really got his career going, as he beat the likes of Chris Leben, Denis Kang, Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Brian Stann and Alan Belcher to carve out a seemingly permanent spot in the top ten. Losses to the likes of Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva always blighted his record though and prevented him from gaining a title shot.
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By 2014 it seemed like Bisping’s career was on the wane, as he spent a year on the shelf due to a persistent eye injury and then lost to Tim Kennedy and Luke Rockhold in one-sided fashion. But true to character, he kept plugging away, picked up a couple more wins and found himself facing Anderson Silva in early 2016. An incredibly gutsy showing took him past the Brazilian legend and that appeared to be his career peak.
Just months later though he stepped in on late notice to fight Luke Rockhold – a man who’d already beaten him – for the Middleweight title, and just three minutes later, thanks to an astonishing knockout, the UK finally had its first champion. It was a testament to the incredible heart and work ethic of ‘The Count’ over a career dating back to 2004. Bisping has since lost the belt to Georges St-Pierre, but he remains one of the UFC’s most popular stars and is clearly the best fighter ever produced by the UK.
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