British fighter Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping didn’t hesitate to say yes when UFC president Dana White offered him a No. 1 contender bout versus Chael Sonnen, after Sonnen’s first opponent Mark Munoz pulled out due to injury.
Bisping posted his comments in a UFC on FOX 2 blog at FoxSports.com late Tuesday night discussing his original opponent Demian Maia and then receiving the call from Dana White to fight Sonnen.
Dana hadn’t even finished saying Munoz was out before I was planning how to beat Sonnen in my head. I’ve accepted fights on short notice for the UFC throughout my career, but this one is a massive, massive chance for me, and I am very grateful to Dana, (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and the UFC. I was already hugely grateful to be asked to fight on FOX, but to fight Chael on FOX … well, there are hundreds of fighters who would kill for this opportunity, and I would have had to be a fool to turn it down.
I’m sure I’ll get blasted for this on the forums, but I feel I could have been the one fighting Chael anyway. We were due to be “The Ultimate Fighter” coaches against each other, but because of things outside our control it didn’t happen, and I’ve won a fight since. I don’t understand how Mark Munoz, as great as he’s been doing lately, was getting Chael instead of me. I feel bad for Mark, but I know he’ll come again and no doubt he will be right back in the mix in this very interesting 185-pound weight class…
Next week, I’m ready to go all guns blazing. A fight is a fight, and at this level anything can happen, but all things being equal, Chael Sonnen cannot knock me out. He can’t submit me, either. The worst that is going to happen is that he will outpoint me and, if I don’t beat him, I didn’t deserve a title shot against Anderson Silva anyway.
Sonnen and Bisping will meet in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 2 on January 28, 2012 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.