It has been well known that Michael Bisping would be retiring at UFC London. The locale was perfect for his swan song, the timing seemed right, the only thing that was missing was going to be an opponent. After an exhaustive list and failed attempts to get something done, it seemed like the UFC had finally zeroed in on Rashad Evans. He was Bisping’s first ever loss and sounded like a great way to close out his career. Except that isn’t happening. Michael Bisping isn’t fighting Evans at UFC London, matter of fact, he isn’t even fighting at all at he card.

“There’s a fight in the works for myself, and I’ve got until the end of the day to tell the UFC whether or not I’m taking it. There’s an offer that’s been made to me, and all fairness to the UFC, I’ve been kind of taking my time to give them an answer so I’ve got until the end of the day to give them an answer. I’m just debating whether or not I take the fight. For me, whether or not those people can see, I have a bad eye. I have a bad eye and my wife doesn’t want me to continue fighting, and my manager doesn’t want me to continue fighting.” — Michael Bisping on his Believe You Me podcast.

No word on if the decision was Michale Bisping’s or the UFC, but he will not be fighting on the card. The UFC could be saving Bisping for a bigger pay-per-view card after not being able to set up a larger card for London. Of course, Bisping could have decided to wait for a bigger opponent to be available as well. Details are scarce at this point and the only thing we have to go on is Bisping’s simple message.

It’s a blow to UFC London that it definitely didn’t need. Ever since Darren Till knocked out Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, we’ve been waiting to see how the UFC could capitlize. Opponent after opponent was mentioned but nothing ever was finalized. One of the big ones that everyone was waiting on was seeing if Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson would be fighting him on the card. We’ve now learned he will not be on the card either.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/30/2018.