Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping thinks he would get the last laugh against Georges St-Pierre if they were to fight again.
Bisping made his second title defense against the returning St-Pierre at UFC 217. After going back-and-forth on the feet, St-Pierre would eventually get the fight to the ground and put Bisping to sleep with a rear-naked choke.
Despite being the larger man in the matchup, Bisping appeared to have issues with St-Pierre’s athleticism and grappling throughout the fight. Bisping would go on to lose to Kelvin Gastelum following the title loss, before retiring shortly afterward.
Bisping has transitioned to a career in broadcasting as a part of the UFC on ESPN crew. But he feels if he were to get a rematch against St-Pierre, things would’ve gone differently.
Michael Bisping Believes He Would ‘Smash’ Georges St-Pierre
“I would smash him,” Bisping said during a recent Q+A. “I would have smashed him that night (UFC 217) but I was injured. I was very injured and–I had one eye, and I had my ribs torn.
“You know what, and to be honest, I’m not diminishing Georges–I was impaired in that fight, I was injured and whatever. Yeah, there was nothing that really troubled me–until the shot that dropped me. I mean, we knew going into it he’d be a tremendous wrestler and that was a big part of the training camp. I couldn’t move well because of my ribs. Georges was aggressive in that fight, but he never really hurt me till the third round, when obviously he caught me with that left hook. It was a great shot and he choked me out, so God bless him for that one.” (h/t LowKickMMA)
St-Pierre vacated the middleweight belt following UFC 217. He later alluded to a possible matchup with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but negotiations never materialized.
Both athletes are in their 40s now and haven’t expressed significant interest in returning to MMA anytime soon. For now, it remains speculative as to how a Bisping vs. St-Pierre rematch would’ve played out.
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