Yoel Romero has earned a shot at Michael Bisping’s UFC middleweight title – that’s pretty much undeniable at this point. Unfortunately, Romero’s title shot was put on the back-burner by the UFC, as the organization instead opted to give the next middleweight shot to returning welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre.

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Romero weighed in on this bothersome situation, telling host Ariel Helwani that he’d be interested in an interim title fight with Anderson Silva as a way to stay busy while he waits for the Bisping vs. St-Pierre winner.

“A fight with Anderson would be great,” Romero said on the show. “It would be great for me, it would be great for the fans, and a fight for an interim title would be really good in general.” 

“I’ve already fought everybody else,” he continued. “I’ve already fought and beat everybody else. The only person that is amongst those great stars is Anderson.”

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While this was an interesting idea on Romero’s part, it’s already been nixed, as Silva has now been pencilled in for a UFC 212 showdown with surging contender Kelvin Gastelum.

With this development, Romero has apparently reset his focus on the Bisping vs. St-Pierre winner, telling Ariel Helwani that with Silva off the table, he will attempt to wait for his shot at gold.

Romero has earned his enviable station in the middleweight division with eight-straight wins, highlighted by defeats of Derek Brunson, Brad Tavares, Tim Kennedy, Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, and most recently, a crushing knockout of former champ Chris Weidman. A former Olympic wrestler, Romero has won all but two of his 12 pro wins by knockout. He’s 12-1 overall.

Do you think Yoel Romero should have been given a middleweight title shot over the returning Georges St-Pierre? Sound off in the comments, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/15/2017.