Michael Bisping reveals why his son’s MMA debut left him just as stunned as everyone else

Despite staying active in the MMA scene, Bisping often spoke about his son’s achievements, especially as Callum made a name for himself in wrestling and shared updates through social media.

In 2023, Callum stepped away from wrestling after competing at NCAA Division 2 level for San Francisco State University. That decision appeared to be the start of his move into MMA.

This past Saturday, he made his professional debut. Using his strong wrestling background, he controlled the fight from start to finish and came away with a clear decision victory.

While many fans might have assumed that Bisping would be closely involved in every step of his son’s journey, he did not even find out about the fight until the day before it happened.

On the Believe You Me Podcast, ‘The Count’ said: “So he had a fight on Saturday night.

“Didn’t tell me about it, I didn’t know, and again, I respect it because he wanted to do it under the radar, he didn’t wanna make a big deal about it, he just wanted to show up with his coach, have the fight and come back.

“Friday morning, me and (my wife)… go out for breakfast and we go down there and there’s Callum with his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s Mum, and they’re in the same restaurant. And his girlfriend’s Mum says, ‘Are you guys going to the fight?’ and I wanted to play along so I didn’t look like a fool… He hadn’t told us.”

Bisping added: “His girlfriend’s Mum is talking about his walkout music and everything and I’m like, ‘You’ve picked walkout music, you’re having a fight? You haven’t even told me.’ It was so embarrassing at that moment, I was fuming.”

The 46-year-old explained his son acted alone, avoiding attention to step out of his father’s shadow.

UFC set to welcome a third father-son duo this Saturday

While neither of the Bispings is rushing Callum into the UFC, there is always hope within the family that he might one day put on those UFC gloves.

If he does, they would be joining a rare list. Only two other father-son pairs have fought in the promotion’s history.

One pair is Randy and Ryan Couture. The other is Gilbert Smith and his son Elijah.

This weekend at UFC Vegas 112, we will see another when Lance Gibson Jr. steps in to fight Bobby Green. His dad, Lance Gibson Sr., had one bout in the UFC back in 2000.