Bisping wants Weidman as next challenger, says Romero is unworthy

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has already sorted out the jogjam that is the divisional title picture after "The Count" looks to defend the belt and avenge a seven-year-old loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 204.

Bisping was asked who among the middleweight elite he deemed a worthy challenger after the October event in a Monday interview on Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour. The Brit mentioned the likes of Ronaldo Souza and former champion Chris Weidman. As for Yoel Romero, who owns the division's longest win streak with seven, Bisping dismissed the Cuban on account of a failed drug test.

"I don't think he deserves it. There's no smoke without fire," Bisping said. "He got a reduced sentence, but the fact is he still got a sentence. I read some studies lately that if you take performance-enhancing drugs, the benefits of those stay in your system for a long, long time, so I don't think Yoel Romero deserves it."

Bisping is one of the sport's most outspoken opponents of performance-enhancing drugs, and Romero is coming off a six-month, USADA-sanctioned suspension.

Having finished Luke Rockhold in under a round to win the title, "The Count" is eyeing a meeting with a newfound nemesis once he's vanquished Henderson.

"I would like Chris Weidman, simply because, for all the back-and-forth, and the s--t-talking and this and that, I respect Chris Weidman, and I like Chris Weidman," said Bisping. "I like what he does. He's got a little case of sour grapes at the minute and he's talking a lot of s--- about me, but I respect that guy. I see the way he carries himself and and he's a likable guy, but he's talked some s--- and I'd like to fight him."

The Brit fought Rockhold as a short-notice replacement for an injured Weidman, prompting a war of words with the New Yorker, who's rumored to fight Romero at UFC 205 in November. Bisping sees Weidman besting the Cuban and Souza taking his rematch with Rockhold at UFC Fight Night 101. He said he'll then meet whoever wins "more impressively."

Bisping's dance with Henderson headlines UFC 204 on Oct. 8 in his native Manchester, England.