Over the last few weeks, there’s been widespread debate as to who former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping should fight in his yet unscheduled retirement fight.
For a time it sounded as though he might retire opposite a fellow legend in Vitor Belfort or Rashad Evans. Bisping also eyed a retirement bout opposite former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
More recently, however, Bisping has expressed interest in trilogy-completing retirement fight with his rival Luke Rockhold. Bisping and Rockhold have gone 1-1 across two fights, with Rockhold winning the first by submission, and Bisping winning the second with a massive, upset knockout in the first round.
Speaking on his podcast Believe You Me, Bisping assured he’d happily fight Rockhold at middleweight or light heavyweight.
“If that motherfucker wants to throw down at 205 [pounds], yeah, we can entertain that, buddy,” Bisping said of Rockhold (h/t MMAFighting). “I’ve got no problem knocking you out again.”
“I exposed Luke Rockhold,” Bisping continued, referencing his 2016 knockout of Rockhold. “I knocked him out. David Branch nearly knocked him out. Yoel knocked him out. I quite literally took his soul, so if he wants me to do it again, that is one that would stoke the fires so to speak.”
Although Bisping says he still has plenty of fight left in him, he is also floating the idea of refraining from competing a final time, as he’s financially secure now. So, while he’s interested in a tie-breaker with Rockhold, the deal would have to be right.
“I’ll fight him at 205, I’ll fight him at 185,” concluded Bisping. “I’m not bothered. That’s if I’m gonna fight again, if the deal is right. Fortunately now, I’m in a good place.”
“I still love fighting. Fighting’s what I do, that’s provided me this platform and I still feel like I’ve got at least one more in me. I’ve got more than that in me but I’m just saying from my business perspective maybe one more makes sense, maybe two more, maybe no more. We’ll see what the future holds if the deal is right.”
Would you like to see Michael Bisping settle his score with Luke Rockhold before he retires?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/27/2018.