Following a rocky start to the year thanks in large to Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey’s absences from MMA, undoubtedly the UFC’s biggest upcoming fight is the middleweight title fight between champion Michael Bisping and legendary returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, which is slated for later this year. The fight has received a ton
Following a rocky start to the year thanks in large to Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey’s absences from MMA, undoubtedly the UFC’s biggest upcoming fight is the middleweight title fight between champion Michael Bisping and legendary returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, which is slated for later this year.
The fight has received a ton of backlash and criticism with “The Count” having a perceived clear contender in the surging Yoel Romero, as St-Pierre is returning from what will be a nearly four-year absence from semi-retirement. He’s also never fought at 185 pounds before, raising doubt as to just how he’ll be able to contend with the much bigger Bisping.
But St-Pierre is doing his part to stay in shape, recently posting a training video of him doing gymnastics – a full-body exercise that few can do and one of the secrets to his unparalleled skill in the octagon during his historic run as champion during MMA’s rise to the current mainstream prominence it enjoys today.
Across the cage, Bisping will await. He’s received his own mob of critics after he fought No. 14-ranked Dan Henderson in his frist title defense at last October’s UFC 204, and has followed that up by refusing to fight the top-ranked contender in favor of the sure-to-be huge payday of a fight with “GSP,” yet there’s no denying “The Count” is on the hottest stretch of his long MMA career, with wins over former champs in Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold, and Henderson; even if two of the victories were and are still followed by controversy. He’s still the bigger, more active fighter as compared to the better grappler St-Pierre, and he’s also probably a more polished striker.
All of that makes this fight a tough one to predict, and it should be a barnburner in a time where the UFC needs it to deliver. Who is your pick to win this pivotal bout?
Michael Bisping has once again failed to hold his tongue, but he probably wouldn’t have it any other way. The reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight kingpin has heard the criticisms of his title bout against Georges St-Pierre. “Rush” hasn’t fought since Nov. 2013 and has never competed in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) […]
Michael Bisping has once again failed to hold his tongue, but he probably wouldn’t have it any other way. The reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight kingpin has heard the criticisms of his title bout against Georges St-Pierre. “Rush” hasn’t fought since Nov. 2013 and has never competed in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) […]
No. 1-ranked UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero has won an incredible eight straight fights, with six of those victories coming by way of stoppage. “The Solider of God” was expected to face off with champion Michael Bisping next, but the UFC elected to give the title shot to returning former welterweight king Georges St. Pierre.
No. 1-ranked UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero has won an incredible eight straight fights, with six of those victories coming by way of stoppage. “The Solider of God” was expected to face off with champion Michael Bisping next, but the UFC elected to give the title shot to returning former welterweight king Georges St. Pierre.
Romero clearly wasn’t pleased with the decision, which led him to call for an interim title bout. Bisping, however, feels as if Romero’s idea is ‘laughable’:
“You’ve got Yoel Romero calling for an interim title shot, which is just desperate,” Bisping said on his podcast “Believe You Me” this week. “It’s laughable. It’s desperate.
“Interim titles are for if the champion is hurt or injured or taking time out. None of that’s happening. GSP’s fighting for the belt. So shut up, fight someone else in the meantime or sit on the side. One or the other.”
While Bisping vs. St. Pierre certainly makes sense from a business standpoint, the bout has angered some fans and fighters. Aside from Romero, No. 3-ranked Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has also voiced his displeasure with the booking, as he even went as far to say that he hopes Bisping and St. Pierre knock each other out.
“The Count” also responded to the Brazilian:
“Well first and foremost, ‘Jacare’ come on, my friend, that’s a very, very nasty thing to say. I thought you were all about love and God and this and niceness and spreading the beauty of jiu-jitsu and all this [expletive] but yet you call for us both to get knocked out? That’s not very Christian is it?” Bisping said.
“Listen, I understand his frustration, of course. But the fact of the matter is he did lose to Yoel Romero. So he’s only won two fights since then. So he’s really got no one to be mad at but himself. He lost around a year ago so it is what it is. Yoel’s ahead of him when this fight happens.”
What do you make of the decision to give “Rush” a shot at Bisping?
Middleweight champion Michael Bisping (30-7) has traded barbs back-and-forth with contender Yoel Romero ever since the Englishman won the title from Luke Rockhold back at last year’s UFC 199. Romero ramped up his verbal assault on the champion after leveling former champ Chris Weidman with a flying knee at UFC 205, but his efforts to
Middleweight champion Michael Bisping (30-7) has traded barbs back-and-forth with contender Yoel Romero ever since the Englishman won the title from Luke Rockhold back at last year’s UFC 199.
Romero ramped up his verbal assault on the champion after leveling former champ Chris Weidman with a flying knee at UFC 205, but his efforts to lobby for a title shot have fallen on deaf ears as the UFC booked Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre for GSP’s comeback fight.
The middleweight champion dismissed the idea of defending his belt against the Cuban Olympic wrestler, suggesting that he take on another former champ in Luke Rockhold to determine who will fight Bisping next, but not before ruthlessly lampooning Romero in a hilarious impersonation on UFC Tonight:
Bisping kept his usual trash talk by saying he doesn’t care what ‘The Soldier of God’ likes and suggesting the high-profile fight:
“They can fight each other. Luke versus Yoel. Do it,” Bisping said.
Meanwhile, “The Count” is set to defend his middleweight belt against former welterweight kingpin Georges Saint Pierre, with a tentative date set for July 8, according to Bisping himself.
Bisping most recently defeated longtime foe Dan Henderson by decision at UFC 204 in October. GSP will enter the bout with the champ coming off of a nearly four-year layoff, and will be competing for the first time at 185 pounds in his UFC and MMA career.
Romero has certainly made his case for a title shot, having won all eight of his Octagon appearances and amassing an impressive 13-1 record overall. Bisping was in the crowd when Romero brutally knocked out Weidman in the third round. The Cuban powerhouse immediately called the champ out following the victory.
As of now, it remains unclear whether Romero will wait for his shot at the middleweight title or if he will take another fight while Bisping vs. GSP plays out later this year.
He’s got kind of a wrestling heel vibe, dominating opponents with athleticism and skill while affording himself enough “lie, cheat and steal” latitude so that you’re never surprised if …
Yoel Romero might just be the best.
He’s got kind of a wrestling heel vibe, dominating opponents with athleticism and skill while affording himself enough “lie, cheat and steal” latitude so that you’re never surprised if his doping tests are flagged or he takes an extra minute or two on the stool between rounds.
If you like your MMA entertainment to extend beyond just fists meeting faces, you’re probably into Cuba’s predominant combat athlete.
This week, he fancied himself a matchmaker. Turned out he was a pretty good one too.
Seeing his title shot scrapped in favor of the utterly stupid Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre matchup, Romero called on the UFC to make an interim title fight between himself and the legendary Anderson Silva in an interview on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. The fight, for however unlikely it would have appeared even as recently as a few weeks ago, made the weirdest kind of sense.
Silva is still among the biggest names in the sport, even as a guy who’ll be 42 next month and has one (controversial) win since 2012. He defended the middleweight title more times than anyone has defended any title between 2006 and 2013 and owns the type of highlight reel of which most athletes only dream.
Romero suggested no one else who’s any good is available to fight him, and Silva made sense based on cache and circumstance.
He was right.
A quick look at the rankings shows everyone between Romero and Silva as booked or injured, and if he wanted a fight it appeared Silva should be it. It also appeared that it should be for an interim title, because everything might as well be for an interim title the way 2017 has been shaping up. Beyond that, there are some intriguing permutations on the other side of a Romero-Silva dance.
Romero and Bisping win their bouts, they meet as planned in the most meritorious middleweight matchup possible.
Silva and Bisping win, you get a rematch of their electric 2016 scrap that easily would have been Fight of the Year if Robbie Lawler and Carlos Conditweren’t so good at violence.
Romero and GSP win, and you’ve got the hulking beast Romero looking to roast his second straight all-time great as he hits 40 years old himself, an unprecedented feat that would suddenly turn his career into something pretty great itself.
Silva and GSP win and you get the superfight fans have been waiting on for a decade but which has been ever so elusive for ever so many reasons over that time. Title versus title at middleweight seems to eliminate just about every one of those reasons and make the meeting, finally, a certainty.
Only the UFC didn’t see it that way.
Despite the obvious thrills and potential for revenue such an interesting matchup would offer, the promotion pivoted from it by booking Silva into a bout with upstart contender Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212. Gastelum has looked ferocious since his continued losses to the scale at welterweight forced him north to 185, scoring standout wins over Tim Kennedy and VitorBelfort. He’s 4-0 as a middleweight in the UFC.
In many ways, the Gastelum fight provides a similar opportunity for the UFC to build something: A true contender scores a win over a living legend and walks out of the cage within spitting distance of a shot at Bisping or St-Pierre.
Still, the fight lacks the appeal of Romero-Silva on a broader level. There are no storylines ready to emerge from it. Nothing truly exciting.
It’s, at best, a nice win for a rising prospect who would be in the top five as opposed to undeniably next for a title fight. At worst, Silva blisters that rising prospect and creates questions about why someone so undersized is fighting among relative giants while doing little for his own legacy in the process.
It’s a booking that’s just weird instead of one that makes the weirdest kind of sense.
Even more weird is that this newfangled UFC didn’t see that. A group so in love with money should easily have seen the potential of the outcomes noted above, and it should have understood that every one of those outcomes would be bigger than anything involving Gastelum.
Yet here we are, Silva and Gastelum circling one another while Romero is left wondering why no one appreciates his brilliance—in the cage or, apparently, as a matchmaker.
Yoel Romero has a huge fight in his sights while he waits for champion Michael Bisping. All-time great Anderson Silva may have other fights in mind, but “Soldier of God” believes he should take on the top-ranked 185-pound contender. Romero has been on an incredible tear in his eight-fight win streak, caping it off with a vicious flying
Romero has been on an incredible tear in his eight-fight win streak, caping it off with a vicious flying knee knockout in the third round of his match-up with former champ Chris Weidman at UFC 205 this past November. Romero was primed as the next candidate to challenge Bisping for the 185-pound throne, but all-time great welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre decided to make his Octagon return at 185 pounds and will challenge ‘The Count’ for the belt on a yet-to-be-determined date.
Romero isn’t happy with the former welterweight king jumping to the front of the middleweight title picture, but won’t wait around for Bisping to get his opportunity at becoming a UFC champion.
Romero joined The MMA Hour earlier today (Mon. March 13, 2017) to discuss what he wants to happen next in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, and stated an interim middleweight title bout against former champ Silva interests him a great deal (quotes via BJPenn.com):
“A fight with Anderson would be great,” he said. “It would be great for me, it would be great for the fans, and a fight for an interim title would be really good in general.”
“I’ve already fought everybody else,” he said. “I’ve already fought and beat everybody else. The only person that is amongst those great stars is Anderson. We both have to play with the same plans of St-Pierre. At this moment, this is almost like a chess match.”
Silva comes off his first win in almost five years when he took home a controversial unanimous decision win over Derek Brunson last month at UFC 209. With ‘The Spider’ now being called out by the likes of Romero and No. 10-ranked middleweight Kelvin Gastelum, perhaps Silva could be getting a massive step up in competition soon.
