Klockan tickar, men Michael ”The Count” Bisping har fortfarande inte gett upp tanken över ett nytt titelförsvar på UFC 206. Om inte Georges St-Pierre kan möta honom så går Nick Diaz lika bra, menar han.
Nyligen gick mellanviktsmästaren Michael Bisping (30-7) ut och påstådde sig ha accepterat en match mot Georges St-Pierre (25-2) på UFC 206: Cormier vs. Johnson. Strax dessförinnan hade St-Pierre haft ett möte i Las Vegas med UFC:s vd Dana White och den nya ägaren Ari Emanuel, och en stund såg det ut som att chansen att få se GSP:s comeback i Toronto fortfarande var levande.
Därefter gick St-Pierre emellertid ut med en video på Instagram, där han sa att han gärna skulle ha gått matchen – men att det tyvärr inte kommer att ske.
”It would end off a perfect year for me”
I det senaste avsnittet av The Countdown with Michael Bisping gav mästaren sina tankar kring situationen och hur det skulle se ut för honom ”i en perfekt värld.
In a perfect world, for me, I’d fight Georges St-Pierre in six weeks time. That’s just around the corner and all the other guys are tied up. Georges St-Pierre would be the biggest payday of my career, bar none. So excuse me for trying to get the biggest payday of my career…” sa han och fortsatte:
”It would end off a perfect year for me. I’ve had the best year of my career and to finish it off with a guy like Georges St-Pierre, another legend, a former champion, a Hall of Famer, a guy who was a pioneer of the sport, an undoubtedly a guy who was pound for pound one of the best in the history of this sport, to beat him and to get my biggest payday, that would end the best year of my career; and my next fight would be against Chris Weidman. In a perfect world, that is what I would like.”
”I’m down to fight ASAP”
Bisping menar att UFC fick honom att rikta in sig på UFC 206 och att han nu vill gå match på galan oavsett vad som händer med St-Pierre.
”I’m down to fight ASAP because Dana and the UFC put this in my mind, fighting at 206. So now in my mind I want to fight at 206. I was ready to take the rest of the year off and do nothing and enjoy being the champion and have some time with my kids and go away for Thanksgiving. But then this was put in my mind again and now I want to fight in Toronto.
”Sign the bout agreement – let’s do it!”
Nick Diaz (26-9, 2 NC), som tidigare utmanat mästaren, vore enligt honom ett annat hett alternativ.
”So yeah, if it’s not gonna be GSP, I don’t mind being on the card against somebody else and Nick Diaz is somebody else that moves the needle… His last fight was against Anderson Silvaso he’s fought at 185, and if Nick Diaz wants to do it, I’ll fight Nick Diaz. If anybody wants to do it, I’ll do it.”
Han fortsatte med att formellt be Diaz att acceptera matchen:
”I’ll fight anybody as long as it makes sense business-wise. I’m not gonna risk my reputation and my title against some chump, but if there’s a lot of money on the line, then I’ll do it. And if Nick Diaz wants to go at UFC 206, formally, officially, I invite you to sign the bout agreement. Let’s do it. And then after that, whoever wins more impressively of the top four middleweights – Rockhold, Weidman, Yoel, and Souza, I’ll fight after this. That will happen. 100%.”
Enligt smackhisface.com ryktas Diaz vara i pågående förhandlingar med UFC om matchen.
Vill ni se Bisping vs. Diaz på UFC 206?
Omslagsbild: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
