Kawa feels that Bisping is intentionally keeping Romero at arm’s length in order to pursue a fight with Georges St-Pierre
Dana White recently stated that UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will fight Romero next. While “The Count” recovers from injury, he is expected to be fit for the octagon in the summer. Britain’s first ever UFC champion has never ruled out fighting the Olympian but has always maintained that he would prefer a “big-money fight” upon return to action.
To throw another spanner into Romero’s works, so to speak, the return of GSP means that Bisping can now put his hand up to fight the former UFC welterweight champion. While not outside the realms of possibility, it is unlikely that St-Pierre would walk into a title shot at middleweight – the most likely scenario would be a catchweight fight, whereby no title is on the line. This would push back a date for Bisping’s title defence against a #1 challenger (in this case, Romero) but would not affect the Englishman’s status as champion, if he were to be beaten.
While Kawa is concerned with the situation as it stands, he took the time to discuss Bisping’s ‘numbered days’ in the UFC, and his ‘sidestepping’ of Romero. Kawa told The Luke Thomas Show on SiriusXM:
“The reality of it is that Dana agrees and so does every single person that owns the UFC, has a piece of the UFC,” said Kawa. “From the celebrity owners to Ari Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell, every one of the employees at WME, every single person here at First Round Management, and probably the millions and millions of fans that watch the UFC agree that Yoel Romero deserves the next shot at Michael Bisping. I think the issue here is the following: Michael Bisping understands that his days are numbered when it comes to a guy like Yoel Romero. I think he understands the game very well from every opponent he’s picked.
“Obviously, you’ve seen what he’s done. He fought Dan Henderson. He wanted Dan Henderson in London. It made no sense whatsoever. The UFC didn’t want to do that fight. He kind of forced their hand because obviously he has the belt.”
Kawa also claims that Bisping has the ability to choose his opponents. As this is the case, according to Romero’s trainer, the Cuban stands little chance of gaining a shot:
“What I’ve seen from Mike is that he’s gonna call his shots and he’s gonna make smart moves, which I can’t blame him for. If you were managing Michael Bisping or you were Michael Bisping and you had your choice of waiting on a guy who’s been out for two and a half years, which might get you your largest payday, or fighting a guy who’s probably the scariest person in the UFC at this point. You’re talking about 10 fights, nine of them are knockouts? I don’t know that you’d want to fight this guy either.
“So I understand Michael Bisping but I also put this on Georges St-Pierre… Honestly, if he said, ‘I want to fight 170,’ he could easily come down and fight Tyron Woodley. But pick between Tyron Woodley and Michael Bisping. If you’re managing Michael Bisping, who do you choose and if you’re managing Georges St-Pierre, who do you choose? I think at the end of the day you stay clear of Yoel Romero and Tyron Woodley for as much as you can. And that’s the problem that we’re having right now.”
With all said and done, Kawa is of the opinion that Bisping is simply avoiding his fighter:
“I don’t care what anybody says, he is absolutely ducking Yoel Romero right now. It’s been confirmed to me by everybody at the UFC. Michael Bisping wants no part of Yoel Romero at this point. None whatsoever.
“I’m not telling you that he’s necessarily ducking him because he doesn’t want to ever fight him, I just think that right now, at this point he’s just trying to sidestep that fight, take this Georges St-Pierre fight, hope he wins, and if he wins, ‘I’ll fight Yoel Romero.’ If he doesn’t win, ‘I got my payday,’ and then Yoel can go and fight Georges.”
“At this point, all we’re looking for is that championship fight so it’s either Michael Bisping or bust at this point.”
