Michael Bisping has been campaigning for a fight for UFC 206, which comes just a little over two months since his tough five-round championship fight against Dan Henderson.
With Georges St-Pierre’s name as a possible opponent, Bisping was more than excited to get back to competition against one of the greatest to ever fight in the Octagon. However, GSP and the UFC could not reach any agreement for the Canadian’s return.
Bisping, still running with the idea of fighting at UFC 206 in Canada has called upon Nick Diaz for a fight. Diaz has not fought since January 2015 where he tested positive for marijuana and Silva tested positive for multiple banned substances including drostanolone, an anabolic steroid. Diaz was initially suspended for five years from competition after repeatedly testing positive for marijuana in the state of Nevada. The suspension was later dropped to 18 months and has been eligible to fight since August, which Bisping obviously knows.
Bisping had the following to say in an article he wrote for Champions.co:
“I will say this, I am absolutely amenable to another fight. Let me make this crystal clear: I am available and ready to fight on UFC 206. If GSP doesn’t want to fight or be the people’s champion of Canada, I am still available. I’m looking at you, Nick Diaz. Let’s give the fans a fight they want to see and make some money along the way.
“I know Pettis vs. Holloway will be a great fight, but imagine the boost in pay-per-view buys if Nick and I headlined the event. That would be a ratings machine.
“So, if you’re paying attention, Nick, do what Georges didn’t—sign on the dotted line and show him how crowd pleasing fights get made.”
Note that this article written by Bisping was published before the news of Luke Rockhold pulling out of his bout against “Jacare” Souza.
Will we see Nick Diaz and Michael Bisping fight at UFC 206? Or did Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza just get his UFC middleweight title shot with Luke Rockhold pulling out of their fight due to injury? Sound off in the comments!