Earlier this year, the UFC announced that former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre was coming out of retirement to challenge middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the middleweight title.
Despite the fact that the promotion held a press conference for the event, a deal was never finalized, and no date was ever given for the fight. After an eye injury forced Georges St-Pierre to postpone, Bisping then revealed that he was having complications from a knee injury, and would be unable to fight GSP in the first half of the year.
After UFC President Dana White revealed that Bisping would fight the winner of this Saturday’s Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker interim middleweight title fight, he confirmed that the UFC would not be waiting to hold a Bisping vs. GSP fight.
This morning, GSP texted both Michael Bisping and Dana White, challenging Bisping to a fight on November 4th at the Madison Square Garden according to Ariel Helwani:
Spoke to GSP today. He sent a text to Bisping and Dana White this AM formally challenging Bisping to fight on 11/4 at MSG. No response yet.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 6, 2017
"Michael, you should man up and fight me 11/4 in NY," he wrote. "I am coming out of retirement to retire you. Dana, PLEASE make it happen."
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 6, 2017
Stay tuned for updates as they become available!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/6/2017.