UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has been out of action since his UFC 204 victory over Dan Henderson last October. The win represented his first title defense, and a chance to get a very large monkey off his back after “Hendo” famously KO’d “The Count” back at UFC 100.
Since then, Bisping has been biding his time, campaigning for a fight with welterweight legend Georges St. Pierre, and rehabbing from recent knee surgery. With the GSP fight on again, off again, however, a big question has come up surrounding the champ’s future plans. Especially with an interim middleweight championship fight going down at July’s UFC 213.
However, this week, the thirty-eight year old Bisping (30–7) took to his podcast, Believe You Me, to say that his retirement was imminent – as soon as after just two more fights.
“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” Bisping said stated on the show. He went on to say that after that, he’d have been “defending my belt for the third time and then probably call it a day.”
“That isn’t set in stone, but in my mind that’s kind of where my head’s at” he concluded.
That sort of mindset goes a long way to explaining why Bisping is fixated on money fights at the moment. He’d no doubt like his final two fights in the UFC to be big paydays, and with Georges St-Pierre, he’d be looking at the biggest payday possible.
However, there’s a question as to whether that fight will happen. It’s just as likely that Bisping will be facing the winner of Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker to unify the titles sometime following UFC 213. That would likely force St-Pierre to take another fight as well. That said, both Bisping and “GSP” remain committed to the match-up.
