Since he became the UFC middleweight champion with a shocking, first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping has generated quite a bit of controversy for chasing lucrative “money fights” over fights with the middleweight division’s top contenders. His taking fights with opponents like Dan Henderson and Georges St-Pierre has generated backlash from fighters like Yoel Romero, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Tyron Woodley, and others. You can now add streaking welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal to the list of fighters who are unimpressed by Bisping’s alleged unwillingness to fight the middleweight division’s top contenders.
On Tuesday night, Masvidal took to Twitter explaining that he’d received some heat from Bisping for not wanting to be on his “14 person total audience” podcast, Believe You Me. Apparently, this prompted a response from Bisping. This response drove Masvidal to call Bisping out for “avoiding everybody that’s a threat” and being the “only champ that does not fight top ten contenders.”
See Masvidal’s criticisms of Bisping as a champion – and of his podcast – below.
@bisping is salty I didn't go on his 14 person total audience podcast. Sorry I'm not trying to help you get famous lol #UKlovesGameBred
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) May 2, 2017
Kiss your balls?What balls you coward?Avoiding everybody that's a threat.Only champ that does not fight top ten contenders#faker #EasyMoney https://t.co/9KpamH1IaU
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) May 2, 2017
At the moment, Masvidal is weeks away from what appears to be a welterweight number one contender fight with Demian Maia, which will occur on the main card of UFC 211. If he wins this fight, he’ll extend his win-streak to four, having recently stopped Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Jake Ellenberger on strikes, and defeated Ross Pearson by decision.
Bisping, meanwhile, will next defend his title against former welterweight champ St-Pierre. The date and location of this fight, however, are not yet confirmed, which seems to be getting the middleweight champion fairly agitated. Then again, St-Pierre might have recently dropped a pretty big hint to that end.
What do you think of Jorge Masvidal’s criticisms of the middleweight king Michael Bisping? Make your opinions heard in the comments section!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/3/2017.