- Hey, what's up GQ.
I'm Michael Bisping and these are my essential items.
[relaxed dub music]
[graphic blips]
All right, so the first thing on my list
has to be, without a shadow of a doubt, coffee.
I cannot start my day without a coffee.
I'm very lucky, my wife, first thing in the morning,
she comes down, she gets me coffee,
puts it by the side of my bed,
then hands me TV remote control to watch the news.
But as I say, two, three,
sometimes four cups of coffee,
then I'm outta my mind, brain spinning,
I go out on a run.
Coffee wakes me up,
but I have no problem going to sleep on it either.
In fact, sometimes I'll have a coffee in the afternoon
and then fall straight to sleep, you know?
I think it's because when I was a professional athlete
I'd train in the morning,
I'd come back and be exhausted and I'd have the nap.
So even now, today,
I still gotta squeeze in a little 20 minute nap.
I'll say, "Babe, do me a favor,
3:00 PM, 20 minutes from now.
Wake me up with a Kimera coffee."
And there it is, straight back on the ground.
When I fought in the UFC, I got a detached retina.
Ultimately I lost the vision in my right eye,
which is a shame, but it is what it is.
For many years I had a disfigured eye,
well, I still have a disfigured eye,
but I got a prosthetic lens,
which actually changed my life in many ways.
And I'll show you right now.
So as we see, there is the prosthetic lens.
So I definitely can't live without this thing.
I always have this on me.
That's my most prized possession in the world,
because as you can see, without it in,
it's not a good look.
This thing here changed my life in so many ways,
because the majority of work what I do
is generally on camera,
even though you know, I'm a knucklehead,
I'm a quote/unquote "tough guy",
whatever you want us say,
you know I've still got my insecurities
and I would go in for auditions and things like that,
and I was always so self-conscious,
because, you know,
unless the part in a movie or a TV show
doesn't call for somebody with a messed up eye,
you're not really gonna get the part.
But still, you know, when you're working on TV,
you know, doing commentary and stuff,
people can be mean.
People can be mean.
A lot of people will talk a lot of shit about my eye.
Eventually I was gonna have my eyeball removed,
'cause I thought I'm sick of looking like this.
So I'll get it removed and I'll get a glass eye put in.
So I went to see a doctor,
I told them what I wanted.
I said, "I want it removing, I want a glass eye put in.
I'm sick of looking like this."
And they said, "No, we don't do that.
Unless it's absolutely necessary to remove the eye.
We don't do that."
They said, "Well, have you thought about
a prosthetic eye piece?"
And anyway, so it turns out this doctor,
just five minutes from my house, makes these things here.
They hand paint them to match the other one precisely,
$3,500, the best three grand
that I ever spent in my entire life,
because when you put it back in,
hold on.
Ow! [chuckles]
Hold on. Ow!
As you can see now, it's hard to tell.
[relaxed dub music] [graphic blips]
Okay, next item on my list.
I mean, it's a little cliche,
because I used to fight for a living,
but a pair of boxing gloves,
because it's still a part of my workout.
I still love it.
I don't fight anymore,
but one of the things that I really enjoy
is going in the garage,
I've got a little gym set up in there and hitting the bag.
It really is a tremendous workout.
It lets me vent some of my frustrations
and of course, burn a few calories
and stay fit along the way.
The ones I like to use, these are from Sanabul.
There's a brand that I absolutely love,
that I've been involved with now for about six years,
decent price point, very, very good quality.
But these ones here in particular,
these are the Michael Bisping specials.
These are a signature glove that they did.
They have some stats about me,
they even have the latitude and longitude of my hometown,
my record, all that type of thing.
But yeah, as I say, to this day,
still love hitting the bag,
one of the best workout you can do.
I love the way that these fit,
I love the way they feel on the hand,
and I love the way they feel
when you connect with somebody's jaw.
[bright hip hop music] [graphic blips]
Okay, the next item on the list for me is a good watch.
Okay, I don't believe in too many accessories for a man.
You know, I don't wear earrings,
I don't wear rings, chains, necklaces, things like that.
But I think a good watch, for me, is absolutely essential.
These three here, these are special to me.
This one here, this is a Breitling.
This was given to me when I won the Ultimate Fighter,
back in 2005.
That was a big turning point in my life.
This one here, this was actually a gift
off his Royal Highness, Sheik Maktoum of Dubai.
When I defended the belt in Manchester,
against Dan Henderson at UFC 204,
I went out to Dubai and I was presented with that watch.
So, you know, thank you very much your Highness.
And then finally this one here,
when I was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame,
a dear friend and a business associate,
I was in a restaurant celebrating,
he said, "Mike, come outside, I got something for you."
And he says, "Mike, a Hall of Famer need some goddamn gold."
[relaxed dub music] [graphic blips]
Okay, the next thing on my list,
and I guess it's not an original thing, but headphones.
But more importantly, music.
Prior to being a professional mixed martial artist
and fighting in the UFC for a living,
I was a professional DJ, DJ Mikey B.
And a lot of people don't believe me when I say that,
but yeah, I was a nightclub DJ for about 10 years.
I still do a little bit now and again,
I spun a set back in England, back in November.
So music is still a big passion of mine,
when I'm working out of course,
it plays a big thing there.
You know, I like all genres of music.
But when I DJ, it was house and trance music,
but I like hip hop, I like rock.
I like classical music.
I like all sorts.
It's a very eclectic taste.
These days, obviously, everyone's wearing AirPods,
but unfortunately for me, I've got cauliflower ears,
so I can't put them in.
But anyway, when you put these on, you can't see them.
Look at that, perfect ears.
[mellow music] [graphic blips]
Okay, the next one for me,
when I'm traveling, when I leave the house,
this is an absolute must for a number of reasons.
I'm talking about CBD, specifically CBD from Hemp Fusion.
This stuff, it's all natural, it's the best quality CBD.
But for me, being a former fighter,
spending many many years in an octagon
and getting my body beat up,
I am still in pain every single day.
I had neck surgery last year,
they took out one of my discs.
They put in a titanium plate and four screws,
and sadly they gotta go back in,
and they gotta take out two more discs
and put in two more metal plates.
So this pain relief cream that I use here is on the go.
Whenever I'm traveling, it's an absolute must,
constantly applying.
My brain is always working overtime,
so the CBD here,
this one's for stress support,
because believe it or not, I'm a bit of a stressy bastard
and the energy support, because, well,
I'm always going a million miles an hour, but yeah,
CBD for me an absolute must, specifically from Hemp Fusion.
[relaxed music] [graphic blips]
Okay, this next one,
I am definitely perpetuating a nonsense myth,
because everyone out there, they think I'm a drinker.
I absolutely love red wine, you know
but only one glass a day, medicinal orders,
as the doctors say.
This one right here,
this was from a friend of mine, a Christmas present.
It's actually from 1966,
which is the year that England won the World Cup.
Somebody asked me once they said,
"Are you gonna open it
when England win the World Cup again?"
I said, "If that's the case,
this will probably never get opened"
and I'm only joking.
[graphic blips] [bright hip hop music]
All right, the next one is this product here from Hydrant.
I like to work out and I sweat a lot.
In fact, my wife, she says, "It's absolutely disgusting",
the amount that I sweat.
But they say, "The more you sweat,
the better shape you're in", so there you go.
This stuff here,
it gives me all the electrolytes that I need.
It's made from real ingredients,
dried fruit juice powder,
very low in calories,
gives you that boost
and gives you the electrolyte that you need,
so you can continue with your day,
you don't feel sluggish,
maybe squeeze in a second workout of the day.
[relaxed dub music] [graphic blips]
All right, next thing on the list,
is a good pair of running shoes.
And as you can see,
these have seen better days because I use them a lot.
Whenever I'm on the road, I go to a new city,
one of the first things I like to do is run.
You know, rather than just walking around
and figuring out what's around you,
I like to go for a run.
You see what's around, you see little stores,
you see different parts of town.
It's a great way, there's mental stimulation.
It's one of my favorite pastimes as well.
These particular shoes are important for me,
because I've got two total knee replacements.
The long career that I had in the octagon
took its toll on my body.
These ones here,
they've got a tremendous amount of padding
and sponging and air bubbles,
and I need shoes that are gonna give me the most absorption.
I have some hills by my house,
it's not much strain on the knees,
because you're going uphill, but you still get the workout.
It's part of my lifestyle.
I like to run most days.
[graphic blips] [bright hip hop music]
All right, the next thing on my list
and it's a little weird,
is a microphone and a webcam,
simply because, and I never would've thought this,
but my career is basically talking these days.
As I say, that's weird,
because when I was on the Ultimate Fighter,
they used to subtitle me,
they couldn't understand a word I've said.
But now I commentate the UFC,
I'm always on the road, always traveling.
I do a podcast.
I do pre-fight shows, post-fight shows.
So when I'm on the road, I need a webcam
and I need a microphone.
In terms of a webcam, I like this one from Logitech,
it's pretty hard wearing,
which is good for me because I'm clumsy
and I don't look after things
and I just throw it in the suitcase.
You get great picture quality, it's 4K
and it's pretty cheap as well.
And this one here,
yeah, does the job, nothing special, but the sound's good.
My producers like it, I haven't been told to replace it yet,
so, so far, so good.
When I first moved to America,
I started working on Fox Sports,
doing pre and post fight shows and things like that.
And I remember at the time,
afterwards the producers would speak to me.
They'd say, "Mike, we love what you're saying, we think.
We love the energy, we love the passion,
but you speak far too quickly.
We can't understand you half of the time."
So they actually wanted to get me
to work with a dialect coach,
which I never ended up doing but I took the hint.
So I actually now, when I'm working on TV,
I have my broadcasting voice, if you will.
And when I'm not, I talk like this.
And I get a lot of abuse from English people all the time,
like "Mike, why are you talking in an American accent?"
I'm not talking in an American accent
but people can't understand me.
One thing I've learned is to slow down,
try and talk a little deeper,
you know, and take my time.
[upbeat music]
All right, that's it. [claps hands]
These are my essential items from running
to red wine, to punching people in the face.
Thank you for watching, hope you enjoyed it.
Get outta here.