Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been called out by a few fighters for his potential retirement match. While Bisping has not shown interest in many of them, it would appear that there is one fighter that intrigues “The Count.”
Michael Bisping is considering putting on a final performance inside the octagon, after his planned retirement fight in London never came to fruition. Bisping has been called out by the likes of former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Derek Brunson.
However, it would appear that Bisping is more interested in former UFC middleweight champion and two time former opponent Luke Rockhold. Speaking on his podcast Believe You Me, Bisping first revealed that he is not interested in facing a young fighter.
“No, no, no, no, no. I’m not looking to fight some young guy to make a name off me and this and that. I want a fight that has meaning and somebody that’s respected and a fight with someone that has been around a long time, a fight that excites people. This is it, if I do decide to fight again. I was going to fight in London, but it never came off. We hit a roadblock in the negotiations or whatever. I won’t talk about it publicly because I don’t air my dirty laundry in public. I see a lot of people do that and it’s a little strange. Business is business and business isn’t for public consumption.
“I was hoping to fight in London and I’m going to be there next week, so I’m looking forward to being there and seeing some of the UFC fans out there and that will be great. But, yeah, if another fight happens [it’s about] all those things I just said. I want it to excite me, excite the people and mean something.”
When asked about the proposition of a fight with Luke Rockhold, Bisping responded:
“If that motherf***er wants to throwdown at 205 then yeah, we can entertain that buddy, I’ve got no problem knocking you out again. I exposed Luke Rockhold [and] I knocked him out. David Branch nearly knocked him out, Yoel knocked him out. I quite literally took his soul. So if he wants to do it again, that’s one that quite literally would stoke the fire so to speak.”
“Yeah I’ll fight him at 205 or 185, I’m not bothered. That’s if I’m going to fight again and the deal is right.”
Bisping earned his middleweight title by knocking out Rockhold at UFC 199. The knockout performance avenged Bisping’s prior submission loss to Rockhold at UFC Fight Night 55.
