UFC 186's Michael Bisping, C.B. Dollaway had in-fight conversation about eye-pokes

Michael Bisping

If you were watching Saturday’s UFC 186 event and wondering what Michael Bisping and opponent C.B. Dollaway were discussing mid-fight, it was a familiar topic for both middleweight vets.

In a pay-per-view main-card bout at Montreal’s Bell Centre, Bisping (26-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) ultimately emerged victorious via unanimous decision following a back-and-forth bout with Dollaway (15-7 MMA, 9-7 UFC) (watch the Bisping vs. Dollaway video highlights).

But in the second half of the fight, the fighters appeared to be conversing. After the bout, Bisping recapped the discussion.

“We were just having a little back and forth regarding our finger positioning,” said Bisping, who successfully rebounded from November’s submission loss to Luke Rockhold. “I know he’s poked a couple of people in the eye a couple of times … so I was like, ‘Hey ref, he’s got his fingers open here.’

“Then in the second or third round, I had mine open, and he was like, ‘Hey Bisping, you’ve got your fingers open.’ It was kind of a stupid conversation that we were having. We were both giving each other sh-t about our finger positioning.”

Bisping, who was ranked No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings heading into the fight, then recreated his in-fight bickering with No. 10-ranked Dollaway.

“Yeah, well you have your fingers open!”

“Well, I’m going to punch you in the face in a minute!”

“Well, just make sure it’s a fist, OK, and not a finger!”

After the fight, the focus again turned to Bisping’s right eye, which has looked noticeably different since he suffered a detached retina in 2013.

“I have oil inside the eye, which is a preventative measure for the retina never really attaching again,” the 36-year-old said. “So yeah, no injuries tonight. C.B. dropped me with a couple of punches, but other than that, I’m good to go. I’ll see you at the bar pretty soon.”

Bisping, who’s now alternated wins and losses over his past nine fights, knows fans are quick to mock him when he says a title shot is still within reach.

But as his career winds down, he knows he needs to string together consecutive victories if he hopes to silence the critics and earn what’s proven to be an elusive shot at the title.

“The results speak for themselves,” he said. “I lost my last fight against Luke Rockhold. What can you say? A loss is a loss. The middleweight division is more stacked than what it’s ever been, and the guys inside the top five, they’ve had better performances lately. They’ve won fights, and I’ve lost a couple here and there. I won one, lost one, won one, lost one. And that’s not good enough.

“You’re only as good as your last fight. Tonight was a great fight, but it wasn’t the performance I wanted. I wanted a stoppage. But it was a good win over a top-10 opponent, and hopefully I continue that form in the summer. Hopefully when I do that, I’ll start talking about a title shot, but yeah, no one’s putting me out to pasture. As I’ve said many times, I ain’t going nowhere.”

For complete coverage of UFC 186, check out the UFC Events section of the site.