Michael Bisping gick för snart två veckor sedan sitt första titelförsvar om mellanviktsbältet då han mötte Dan Henderson i Manchester och segrade via ett enhälligt domslut. Nu står fyra utmanare inför honom, forne mästaren Chris Weidman som härnäst möter Yoel Romero och Luke Rockhold som möter Ronaldo Souza.
Bisping vet dock vem han är mest intresserad av att möta.
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Via ’The MMA Hour’:
Obviously it’s got to be one of the big contenders next. We’ll see how the chips fall regarding their fights. I think I’d like Weidman, to be honest. If Weidman could get past Romero, that’d be a fight that interests me.
And seeing that me and Weidman have this rivalry now — I’ve got nothing against Weidman. He likes to talk sh*t about my career, and I’ll do the same on his, but I wish him all the best. Competition aside, he seems like a good guy and good dude. But we’ve been talking a lot, so I guess we’re going to settle it in the Octagon. So if he gets past Yoel Romero, which he’s got his hands full there, but if he does, then yeah, I’ll happily fight him next. I believe he’s a good match-up for me.
Bisping blev den nye mellanviktsmästaren tidigare i år, då han segrade mot Rockhold via knockout i första ronden under UFC 199. Matchen mot Henderson stod under kritik då det inte var en match mot en fighter inom topp 10 och Bisping ansågs undvika de fighter som ligger i toppen.
Bisping hävdar nu att ingen bryr sig om varken Weidman eller Rockhold.
Well, business-wise, nobody really cares about Luke Rockhold. Unfortunately, business-wise, nobody cares about Chris Weidman either, so I don’t think either of them really make me that much money, unfortunately. They’re probably the best two guys in the division other than me, and nobody gives a sh*t about them. Nobody gives a damn. That’s why Chris Weidman couldn’t main event a pay-per-view (when he was champion), he was always the co-main event.
But I’ll just take on the best challengers. I know what people said about the Henderson fight, but the UFC came to me with the match. I didn’t ask for it, so I said yeah, sure. And now I’m happy to take on whoever the true No. 1 contender is, so we’ll see who wins these fights, and whoever it is, I’ll happily fight him. I’ve never ducked a fight in my life.
Bisping vet inte när han kommer att försvara bältet härnäst, men siktar mot februari. Engelsmannen kan även få en ny motståndare i Gegard Mousasi, som senast segrade mot Vitor Belfort via TKO i andra ronden under UFC 204.
Here’s the thing, Mousasi is an incredible fighter. He really is. I like the guy. But I just said that Rockhold and Weidman [would do] terrible business. Jesus Christ, I think it would be astronomically bad business at the moment with Mousasi. He just needs another win or two to really get people’s attention. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that long ago that the idiot Uriah Hall got a fluke knockout against him, so that kind of hurt his stock. And Mousasi is incredible, he really is. He’s one of the best underrated fighters in the world.
He beat Vitor easily and impressively. I think another big-name opponent, or another one or two in there certainly, he would be more of a household name, then I’d be happy to face him when the time comes. But I think right now he needs another tune-up fight.
Bisping står just nu med 5 raka vinster och sammanlagt 30 vinster och 7 förluster.
