UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping has a long history with the UFC Ultimate Fighter, winning season three of the reality show.
According to the middleweight champion, a coaching gig was set for him on TUF 26, until interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker turned it down.
“I’m just hungry to fight, regardless of whether it was Georges,” Bisping said on The MMA Hour. “You’ve got to remember, there’s a lot of people out there that like to talk sh*t and say that, ‘He’s dodging the No. 1 contender,’ and all of this. Prior to Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero fighting, I had a quick meeting with Dana White in the backroom of the MGM, or wherever the f*ck, the T-Mobile Arena, and I agreed to coach The Ultimate Fighter against whoever won that fight. So in essence, I accepted a fight with Yoel and I accepted a fight with Robert Whittaker. I just want to throw that out there for all those people out there who like to talk smack. And it was Robert Whittaker that said he needed some time, he didn’t want to fight. Obviously a fight with Yoel doesn’t make sense because Yoel just lost. But it’s funny how things happen, because that actually gave the GSP thing an ability to happen. Because that fight happened on a Saturday, we were supposed to start coaching The Ultimate Fighter on the Tuesday. So, if Whittaker hadn’t turned it down, the fight never would’ve happened.”
Besides winning season three, the UFC Middleweight Champion has also acted as a coach twice before on the show.
Bisping and UFC 217 opponent Georges St. Pierre have trained together before, but Bisping says he has improved a lot since then.
“But in truth, he’s doing this because he thinks he can beat me. We trained together a long, long time ago and he outwrestled me then. I didn’t know a double-leg from a Big Mac. So he still thinks he can outwrestle me down and beat me. He didn’t want to fight Anderson Silva when he was the champion. He didn’t want to fight Luke Rockhold when he was the champion. So he’s looking at me as easy pickings. That’s why he’s focused on fighting me so much. And for all this talk, I say Georges is a fraud. And Canada, who looks at him as their champion — Canada’s champion is a f*cking fraud,” says Bisping.
UFC 217 takes place on Saturday, November 4 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Michael Bisping and Georges St. Pierre headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
