Bisping mulling swan song in England after title unification bout
Eight months away from the Octagon have Michael Bisping thinking about the twilight of his career.
Currently nursing a knee injury that played a role in the demise of his long-anticipated, dateless meeting with Georges St-Pierre, the UFC middleweight champ now expects to unify the title against the winner of an interim championship bout between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker - set for July 8 at UFC 213. Once the strap has been unified, Bisping wants to hang up his gloves in his native England, whether he's still the 185-pound king or not.
"My next fight, I don’t know where it’s going to be. It’s probably going to be unfortunately not GSP (Georges St-Pierre). It’s probably going to be the winner of (Robert) Whittaker and (Yoel) Romero," Bisping said on his "Believe You Me" podcast this week, per Damon Martin of FOX Sports. "I don’t know where that fight’s going to be and I see myself winning that fight because I see Whittaker winning that fight and I see myself beating Whittaker. If Romero wins, I see myself beating him as well. But I firmly believe that it will be Robert Whittaker.
"Win or lose that fight, I’ll probably have one more and I want that to be in London or Manchester or the U.K. I want it to be in England. I want to have my last fight, I want to say farewell. The fans for me in England have treated me so well, they really have. The MMA fans out there have really embraced me as one of their own of course and it made a different in my career. So I want my last fight to be in England."
Despite his designs, Bisping maintains the urge to fight has not yet subsided and vows to take the Octagon before the year is out. While he has yet to fully commit to his retirement plan, "The Count" aims to go out with UFC gold around his waist, whenever that day comes.
"Whether or not I win my next fight, which I plan on winning and believe I will, then I want to have one last fight in England, hopefully defending my belt for the third time and then probably call it a day. I mean that isn’t set in stone but in my mind that’s kind of where my head’s at."
The 38-year-old twice competed in his home country last year, outpointing Anderson Silva in London before defending the title he won in June against Dan Henderson at UFC 204 in his native Manchester. The October victory marked Bisping's 20th in the Octagon, giving him sole ownership of the UFC record.