Michael Bisping could be coming out of retirement to face Luke Rockhold at Karate Combat.
Rockhold is coming off a knockout win over Joe Schilling in his Karate Combat debut over the weekend. It was a great performance from the former UFC middleweight champion, and now, Bisping says he’s interested in the trilogy match with Rockhold.
“Luke Rockhold [vs. Joe Schilling], I was doing a live to it, and everyone’s like, ‘You gotta do the trilogy.’ I’ll do Karate Kombat against Luke Rockhold. I’ll do it. I will have a trilogy with Luke Rockhold in Karate Kombat. I would love to… This is gathering momentum a little too quickly, let me see my hip doctor first and get my neck sorted. I’m joking. I’d do it. 100% I would,” Bisping said on his podcast.
Michael Bisping welcomes trilogy bout with Luke Rockhold
If Karate Combat can sign Michael Bisping and make the trilogy with Luke Rockhold, it would be a massive fight for the promotion to secure. But, whether or not Bisping can be cleared with his eye is uncertain.
Luke Rockhold shows interest in Lyoto Machida rematch
Although Michael Bisping is interested in having his trilogy with Luke Rockhold at Karate Combat, the former middleweight champion called out Lyoto Machida.
Rockhold and Machida fought in the UFC in 2015 and Rockhold won by submission, which was the fight that got him the title shot. After his knockout over Joe Schilling, he called out Machida for his next appearance in Karate Combat.
“There’s only one man I wanna fight in this pit, and that’s Lyoto Machida,” Rockhold said in his post-fight interview in Dubai (via MMAFighting). “And you’re lucky because they don’t allow elbows, so no more f****** nightmares about the elbows. Bring it. Let’s see what you got, let’s see what your paychecks look like. Bring out that chequebook. Lyoto, I know you need a payday, motherf*cker. Come get it.”
Rockhold has options for his next fight as both Bisping and Machida have now expressed interest in fighting him in Karate Combat.