During the recent UFC 286 event, Justin Gaethje expressed his dissatisfaction with Michael Bisping’s commentary work during the welterweight championship main event between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman. Gaethje accused Bisping of being biased in his commentary, as both Edwards and Bisping are from England, while Gaethje is a training partner of Usman’s. Although Gaethje did not provide any specific examples of Bisping’s biased commentary, he claimed that Bisping should not have been near a microphone during that fight.
Gaethje also raised concerns about the co-main event fight against Rafael Fiziev, which ended in a majority decision draw with a result that was read out in an unorthodox manner. Ring announcer Bruce Buffer read out a 29-28 Gaethje score first, then a second 29-28 score with no name attached to it, and then the 28-28 score before announcing Gaethje as the winner. While Gaethje was confident that he had won the fight, he found the result announcement to be very confusing.
“I thought [Usman] won the fight,” Gaethje said when asked for his thoughts on the Edwards-Usman trilogy bout. “But I’m probably as biased as the judges. Certainly not as biased as Michael Bisping, who shouldn’t have been nowhere near a microphone during that fight. It sucks.
It’s not my call,” Gaethje said. “I just thought it was very unprofessional.”
Despite these issues, Gaethje was pleased with his win and celebrated it with an off-the-cage flip. When asked if UFC President Dana White would have a problem with his celebration, Gaethje said that White loves it.
