UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping spent ten years bleeding, sweating, and crying inside the octagon and training mats just to get his hands on a belt that eluded him his entire career. Now that he has it, the middleweight is getting has been heavily criticized for each of his championship defenses.
In a division stacked with the likes of Yoel Romero, Ronaldo Souza, and Luke Rockhold, Bisping has defended his championship against Dan Henderson who was nowhere near the top five and recently re-signed Georges St-Pierre. While Bisping did sign the dotted lines to make the fight happen, it was not his decision to take on fighters who are nowhere near the top of the rankings. Bisping responded to the criticism of his fight with GSP on a recent edition of “UFC Tonight”:
“I know there’s people out there who are going to criticize this, saying that I should fight the number one contender, guys like Yoel Romero, and they’re absolutely right but I’ll put this question to you right now. If you are Yoel Romero or Luke Rockhold or ‘Jacare’ [Souza] or any of these guys, if you were offered a fight with GSP, I know for a fact that you’re going to take that fight so why shouldn’t I do the same?
“I deserve this payday. I deserve this fight. Not only to do with the payday, I want this fight for my legacy. I’ve beat Dan Henderson. I’ve beat Anderson Silva. Georges St-Pierre is also another legend that I want to add to my resume.”
