Michael Bisping Still Thinks He’s Fighting Georges St-Pierre

The circus that is the UFC’s middleweight division continues to roll on.

Earlier this year it was announced that former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre had singed a new multi-fight deal with the promotion to make his Octagon return. Rather than attempt to reclaim his 170-pound throne from Tyron Woodley, he decided to instead peruse the middleweight championship currently held by Michael Bisping.

The bout was made official and a press conference was even held for the two men to promote the bout, however, no official date of venue was ever set for the contest. Earlier this month St-Pierre took to Instagram to announce he won’t be able to return to action until after October, leading UFC President Dana White to cancel the fight and name No. 1-ranked Yoel Romero the next challenger for the title.

Bisping took to his podcast, Believe You Me, to respond to that news and stated that he has yet to hear any official word of the fight being called off from UFC brass (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“Honestly, it’s news to me. I haven’t heard anything about it. I reached out to Georges and he said he hasn’t heard anything officially either, and I still haven’t heard anything from the UFC or Dana White. I know that a lot of people are complaining about this potential delay with Georges, so we’ll see what happens.

“So yeah, to clarify, as of right now, no official word from the UFC. I haven’t heard anything and Georges is still hoping for it, I’m still hoping for it. I’ll say this, I was offered the fight twice. I was offered the fight in October and it never materialized. I was offered the fight in January or February and it did materialize and we had a press conference and we shook hands and we stood there in Las Vegas and we talked a bit of shit. So okay, I haven’t had a bout agreement but that is the plan. That was the offer and I accepted and I kind of feel that once a deal is made, we should stick to it.”

St-Pierre has speculated that White stating Romero would get the next shot at the title could be a power play by the UFC to try and force him to return sooner. Bisping, however, doesn’t believe that’s the case and simply thinks the UFC is in need of more title bouts on its pay-per-views (PPVs):

“Maybe they need an active champion to fight sooner. I think that’s probably the top of it. I honestly don’t think they’re trying to put pressure on Georges. I think they need title fights on the pay-per-views, which I understand. I understand the frustrations from their side, just like a lot of the middleweight division are kind of frustrated. They need good title fights on their pay-per-views and waiting until November is a significant delay so I understand that. But like I said, we did have a deal so I’d like to speak with the UFC and find out what’s happening. “

The fact that the Canadian can’t compete until later this year is perfect for Bisping, who says he is currently dealing with lingering knee issues that won’t allow him to fight until down the road himself:

“It’s a blessing in disguise because I can’t fight anytime soon. I can’t exercise, I can’t train. My knee is giving me many, many problems. It was doing it in Thailand, it’s still getting no better. . . So long story short, what I’m getting at is I’m not going to be ready to fight anytime soon so again, that’s another reason why this plays into the perfect scenario for me.”

Until he hears otherwise, Bisping is still expecting to meet St-Pierre inside the Octagon, but understands the rest of the 185-pound division’s frustrations at the moment:

“[Rockhold] has no grounds to talk. Some people have, to be honest. Yoel’s been there for a bit now. I understand that. Robert Whittaker is there and Gegard as well but I’ve got a fight booked and until I hear anything differently from an official source, I’m expecting to fight GSP. “