Bisping gives GSP deadline to 'man up' and make fight happen
Michael Bisping has put the ball in Georges St-Pierre's court.
Even after UFC president Dana White pulled the plug on their dateless middleweight championship bout earlier this year, "The Count" has feverishly campaigned for the superfight, but as he told Ariel Helwani on "The MMA Hour" on Monday, it's time GSP met him halfway, assuming the former welterweight champ still wants to face him.
Bisping went as far as giving GSP until Saturday - when he'll be working the FOX Sports 1 desk for UFC 213 - to put the wheels in motion. Otherwise, he'll settle for the winner of the card's co-main event, an interim middleweight championship bout between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker.
"Georges, if you're watching, which I know you are because you want to know what I'm saying," Bisping said, according to MMA Fighting's Peter Carroll. "You've got until Saturday, because on Saturday I'm going to be on the FS1 post-fight show. Tune in, because one of those (fighters), Yoel Romero or Robert Whittaker, will be joining me on the desk.
"If I can't say I'm fighting GSP by then, then I have to say I'm going to fight Whittaker or Romero. I can't be a little bitch about it. Basically, the countdown is on."
Injuries to both Bisping and St-Pierre put the kibosh on their fight - as both will be out until the final quarter of 2017 - with White subsequently revealing GSP would be fighting for the welterweight title in his return. And yet, the news didn't stop Bisping from urging St-Pierre to reach out to the UFC boss on Monday.
"Georges, man up. Make the call. I know you have some issues, but call the man, call Dana White.
"I'm backed into a corner. I've said everything I can say. If he doesn't step up, I'm going to take on the winner of those two (Romero versus Whittaker). I want to do it. A lot of people want that fight. Failing that, I'll take one of these two."
The middleweight champion has been subject to much scrutiny over his 13-month reign. His sole title defense came against the now retired Dan Henderson at UFC 204, while a lingering knee injury has since kept him from taking on the top-heavy division's contenders-in-waiting. But whether it's St-Pierre or the winner of Saturday's interim title fight, Bisping maintains he'll have gotten back in the saddle and silenced some detractors before the year is out.
"I'm sick of everyone saying I don't want to fight. Honestly, who I fight next? I couldn't give a shit. I really couldn't. Whether it's GSP, whether it's Yoel, whether it's Whittaker. … I'm sick of all the bulls--t.
“I want to fight. I've got to fight. My knee is still very much giving me issues, but who cares? I've got to fight. I'm blowing off the cobwebs and I'm getting ready. Towards the end of the year, one of those three will get it."