Michael Bisping Shaves Head to Save TUF 34 Fight After Weight Miss

Michael Bisping shaved his head to keep a fight on this week's The Ultimate Fighter 34 after one of his strawweights missed the contracted limit by a pound and a half.

Team Cormier's Tina Black stopped Team Bisping's Natalia Alves in the second round of their strawweight quarterfinal, moving Daniel Cormier's side ahead 3-2 on the season. The former Invicta FC champion picked apart Alves on the feet and defended multiple takedown attempts before finishing with a flurry late in Round 2, as first reported by MMA Fighting.

Bisping Traps Fighter in Sauna During Brutal Cut

Alves struggled badly with the 115-pound weight cut, receiving an extra hour but still coming in at 116.5 pounds. Bisping stayed with her through every step, even locking her inside a sauna when she tried to leave. Contestant Xavier Franklin told MMA Fighting that Bisping was determined to get the weight off. "She tried to get out. He trapped her in there. She was screaming," Franklin said. "He said, 'We're not leaving until you get this weight.'" Teammate Gigi Canuto was in the sauna with them and later told Franklin that Bisping appeared to be having flashbacks during the ordeal.

Black could have taken a bye to the semifinals after Alves missed weight, but the coaches brokered a deal. Cormier paid his fighter between one and two thousand dollars to accept the bout, and Bisping agreed to shave his head. Franklin said the gesture fired up the entire team. "I was like, wow, he actually cut his hair just so she could fight," he said. "That kind of lit a fire under everybody. If he wants us to win this bad, we need to want to win as well."

Franklin and other housemates saw the weight miss coming. Alves snacked constantly in the days before weigh-ins despite assurances she would make the limit. "Every time somebody had some food or some snack, she would walk by," Franklin said. Even quiet teammate Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu questioned how she would hit 115 pounds given her eating habits.

Next week's episode features a bantamweight quarterfinal between Team Cormier's Sean Mora and Team Bisping's Ilimbek Akylbek Uulu. The Ultimate Fighter 34 streams on Paramount+ with new episodes every Tuesday, with the live finale date still to be announced.

Original reporting:

• mmafighting.com — The Ultimate Insider: Behind the scenes of TUF 34, Michael Bisping makes big sacrifice to save fight | MMA Fighting