Michael Bisping on new middleweight landscape: 'I should get my damn title shot'
TORRANCE, Calif. -- It seemed the book on Michael Bisping's career had been all but written.
Charismatic star. Someone people loved or hated, but always tuned in to watch. A solid, tough fighter. But one who came up just short of the championship level, losing in his biggest fights to fighter who either were on testosterone replacement therapy or got caught using performance enhancing drugs.
Then along came USADA.
Time to send back for a rewrite.
With rigorous drug testing in place before Bisping's career window closed, not only has the playing field changed, but the notion that the grizzled vet might get that UFC middleweight title shot he long dreamed of, incredibly, is back in play.
Bisping will face former longtime champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 in London on Feb. 27. And with the way things have panned out at 185 pounds this year, he feels a victory over Silva will put him at the front of the line to face the winner of what is expected to be a rematch between current champion Luke Rockhold and former champ Chris Weidman.
A giddy Bisping went through the list of potential contenders at 185 pounds, pointing out some have been caught cheating and claiming others have been cheating despite passing their tests.
"I'll be fighting Silva," Bisping said at the UFC Fight Night 84 open workouts. "Yoel Romero just tested positive. Call it what you will, he's out. Jacare [Souza] lost. They're two cheats. I'll say it right now, Jacare looked smaller in his fights and Vitor [Belfort], don't get me started, we've all got places to go I'm sure. Romero is out the window because he's a scumbag. Jacare is going to continually shrink now that he's off the juice."
The only fighter Bisping exonerated was Tim Kennedy, who defeated Bisping in 2014. But he noted Kennedy has seemed preoccupied with side projects in recent months.
"Who else is out there? Be honest. Tim Kennedy? He's off making a show anyway. Be honest, he got me on the best night of Tim Kennedy's career possible. There you go. I'm going to bat Anderson I'm going to do the best show possible."
So as Bisping sees it, given the lay of the land at 185 pounds, if he wins, after his 25th career UFC fight, that long-elusive title shot should be his.
"It's a fight I desire strongly," Bisping said. "I've won four of my last five, [if he defeats Silva], I'm a perennial contender, this is my 10th year in the UFC, my 10th year with the company. The only guys who beat me in my last five fights are all champions. When I beat Anderson, I should get my damn title shot. Dana [White], c'mon."