Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping's finest moment came when he defeated Luke Rockhold to win the UFC middleweight championship in 2016. Pictured: Michael Bisping hugs his daughter Ellie Bisping after defeating Luke Rockhold in their Middleweight Title Bout at UFC 199 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, June 4, 2016. Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Michael Bisping has officially called time on his mixed martial arts career at 39 after announcing his retirement Monday on his "Believe You Me" podcast.

The former UFC middleweight champion spoke about the prospect of retirement frequently following his loss to Kelvin Gastelum in November last year as he was targeting a farewell fight to take place in England. However, that will no longer happen now as he believes it is not worth it anymore.

"So obviously I’ve teased this for a long time now, I might fight again, I might not. And unfortunately it’s not a fight that I’m announcing. I am going to announce my official retirement from mixed martial arts," Bisping said, as quoted on MMAFighting.

"I was watching this movie last night and I just thought, it ain’t worth it," Bisping added referring to the movie Journeyman. "It ain’t worth it. I mean, what else am I going to do? I’ve won the belt, I’ve had tons of wins, I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve. What’s the point in flogging a dead horse? Not that I’m a dead horse, but what’s the point?"

"I’ve done everything that I set out to achieve, and fortunately now I’ve used my platform to open other doors. You know, you’ve got to know when to walk away. I’m almost 40 years old, the time is now. So, I want to say, first of all, thank you to my wife. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s a fact. She was incredible every single step of the way. My children. My dad. My dad was amazing. And of course everyone in the U.K. and around the world that supported me. So, yeah, there you go. Great career. That’s that. Thank you everybody," he said.

It marks the end of an illustrious 14-year career that saw the Briton put U.K. MMA on the map. Among his accolades, Bisping won The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3, is a two-time Ultimate Fighter coach, has the most wins in the middleweight division and is tied with Georges St-Pierre for most UFC wins overall (20).

However, his finest moment came at UFC 199 in June 2016 when he defeated Luke Rockhold on two weeks notice to win the middleweight title at 37 years of age and in the process, become Britain's first ever UFC champion.

Bisping successfully defended his belt against longtime rival Dan Henderson in Manchester, England, at UFC 204 a couple of months later before he finally earned his money fight when he took on St-Pierre at UFC 217 in November last year.

He would lose his title to St-Pierre though, before stepping in for Anderson Silva on short notice three weeks later to take on Gastelum that resulted in a first-round knockout loss to the 26-year-old. Bisping retires with a 30-9 MMA record and will undoubtedly enter the Hall of Fame.

The MMA world reacted to the news on Twitter shortly afterward.

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