Bisping Blasts GSP For Giving Up Belt

Former UFC Middleweight champion,Michael Bisping discussed his feelings on Georges St-Pierre vacating the title he beat Bisping for at UFC 217. While on his Believe You Me podcast, Bisping did not mince words when it came to GSP.

“I’m gonna be brutally honest here, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. By the way, Dana White threw me under the bus when he first found out. He wasn’t happy with Georges and he said, ‘Yeah, well he cherry-picked Bisping.’ That doesn’t do me any favors! He didn’t cherry-pick me, but I did say that. I said Georges wanted to fight me because he thought I was an easy fight and this and that, and he got the win, and then he vacated the belt. Now he vacated the belt because apparently he had to go to the hospital after our fight and he thought he was gonna be paralyzed and he had a bad neck and all this type of stuff. I don’t know. He just doesn’t fancy doing it again.”

“In one respect, it’s good for me because – as an MMA fighter, as a boxer, whatever it is – if somebody beats you, you never want them to lose again because if they get beat, then the person that beat them, it has a negative impact on you. Like, ‘Oh, they could have beaten me as well.’ So he’s never going to fight at 185 again, that’s good. I’m the only person at 185 he ever beat, nobody at 185 is ever gonna beat him. So cheers Georges, thanks for that. But at the same time, it looks like a bit of a bitch move, you know what I mean? So there’s pluses and negatives.”

 

St-Pierre has had his star fall over the past few years, while other fighters have built resumes comparable to the former pound-for-pound king of MMA, such as Demetrious Johnson. When St-Pierre suddenly retired after a decision win at UFC 167 against Johny Hendricks, it left a bad taste in the mouth of fans and commentators alike. Yet, his return and win over Bisping reintroduced St-Pierre in to the conversation of the greatest fighter of all time, which Bisping believes that was the plan all along, to come back, cement his legacy, and then leave again like he did before.

“He even said that,” said Bisping. “Remember he said in the press conferences, he said if he lost he was never gonna try again and he was gonna retire. I don’t know anything about Georges’ bank account but I’m assuming it’s pretty swollen, it’s got plenty of money in there. So he came back, he got another belt, made history, made a ton of money, made more than me, the prick, and good for him. It’s actually really smart. Why should he carry on fighting? Legacy is more important and he’s got a great legacy there. So from a business standpoint, it’s actually a really smart move. From the UFC’s perspective, of course it’s frustrating. It’s annoying. Opens the doors for Whittaker versus Rockhold but it’s annoying because remember, GSP did that after the Johny Hendricks fight. He didn’t defend the belt, walked away, Dana was pissed then, and now he’s doing the same thing now.”

With St-Pierre abdicating the middleweight title, interim champion Robert Whittaker was promoted to undisputed champion and scheduled his first title defense against former champion, Luke Rockhold. Bisping might gotten his title rematch, albeit against Whittaker and not St-Pierre, but “The Count” accepted a short-notice fight against Kelvin Gastelum and knocked out in the first round.

“GSP’s retired, I’m out the picture, let them two fight for it, whoever wins, they become the champion and good for them.”

Bisping has said he intends to retire after his next fight which he hopes with come when the UFC returns to London for UFC Fight Night London on March 17.