Michael Bisping says fans were driven to tears by his UFC title win

MICHAEL Bisping says his historic knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 was so emotional, British fans back home wept with joy.

The Brit chatted to SunSport in London during his whistlestop victory tour of the UK.

And ‘The Count’ said he was absolutely amazed by the response of the fans when he attended a signing in Manchester’s Trafford Centre at the weekend.

“It’s nice to be back here in England,” he said

“Had a crazy time in Manchester. The people were happy to see me there, which blew my mind, it really did.

“We did a signing at the Trafford Centre and, no exaggeration, around 20 people that I spoke to that day told me that they cried when I won.

“I was like ‘Really? (You’re) this emotionally invested in my fighting?’

“It just blew my mind.”

Bisping admitted life has been non-stop since his first-round finish of Rockhold in Los Angeles.

But despite not having the time to lie back and smell the roses, he has watched back his knockout win multiple times.

“I’ve certainly watched the fight back many many times,” he grinned.

“I’m not gonna lie. It’s certainly a good way to brighten up my day.

“I haven’t had time to sit and relax. It’s still kind of surreal.

“Of course it’s sunk in – I know it happened – but I almost can’t believe it.

Paying tribute to Parillo

Bisping attributed a great deal of his recent success to his head coach Jason Parillo, whose influence helped turn the Brit from a title hopeful to the undisputed champion of the world.

"I started with Jason 2012, I believe," he explained.

"Of course, he's a tremendous boxing coach, that goes without saying. That's his speciality. Jason was an incredible boxer, was an undefeated boxer, and then he had some medical problems and had to retire unfortunately.

"But that guy - he's only a little man, but you want to see that guy punch, it's quite terrifying. So they guy knows how to punch, that's for sure."

But despite Parillo's credentials as a striking coach, Bisping said it was his coach's work on the mental side of the game that really helped turn Bisping from contender to champion.

"Of course he's a great coach and he's a great natural leader, so he's got many many qualities that you need a great coach," he explained.

"But for me the main thing he's really helped me with is the mental aspect of the fight game.

"Of course we have tremendous physical training sessions, but at the end of the training sessions a lot of the best work is done when we're sitting down and I'm cooling down and stretching and he'll talk to me for an hour at a time and I'm hanging on every word of what he says.

"He really does mentor me and talks about the emotions of the fight game. He calms me down, but also reminds me of the fact that I deserve to be there, to handle those emotions."

And the Brit explained how Parillos calming influence helped get his mindset right ahead of his short-notice title tilt at Rockhold at UFC 199, where Bisping stepped into the biggest fight of his career on just 17 days' notice.

"He said to me: "Mike, we've only got two weeks, so let's enjoy these two weeks. How often are you going to fight for the belt?" You wanna go through it stressed out and this and that? No, you wanna enjoy it. Relish this time. You're gonna win this thing. You're gonna be world champion. Enjoy the process."

"(That was) Good advice!"