UFC welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre says if he beats middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 a week from Saturday he will next fight interim champion Robert Whittaker. GSP also says if he loses, the next time he loses, he will retire.
However, during his latest Believe You Me podcast, Bisping said he believes GSP has a plan, and Whittaker isn’t in it.
He keeps talking about, ‘It’s in the contract. It’s in the contract that I fight Whittaker,’ but he ain’t, said Bisping, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. He ain’t gonna fight Whittaker if it’s in the contract or not. I believe it is in the contract but all he’s gotta do is say, ‘I don’t fancy doing that and if you want me to fight again and maybe sell a lot of pay-per-views, it’s gotta be someone else.’ The UFC would fold, I’ve got to imagine.
He wants to beat me, go back down to welterweight, beat Tyron, and then face Conor, beat all three, and then retire and make a ton of money. And the UFC probably wants that to happen. By that I don’t mean beat Conor, I mean beat me. Beat me, then either beat Woodley or go straight to Conor.
He doesn’t need to fight regularly. . . [GSP can] fight sometime towards the end of next year and in the meantime, Conor can fight Diaz or Ferguson, whichever one it’s gonna be, and then he can take some time off, and in the meantime, St-Pierre can be losing the weight to meet at a catchweight.
If GSP beats Bisping and becomes only the fourth two-belt champion in UFC history, a fight with fellow two-belt winner Conor McGregor is the biggest fight in combat sports, maybe ever. The UFC is not run by a non-profit corporation like the NFL that makes sure the two teams in the Superbowl competed their way there. The UFC is a business, with a massive amount of debt to cover. If GSP vs. Whittaker makes X, then GSP vs. Conor makes a big multiple of X, giving the UFC every reason to make the fight. However, Bisping plans to gleefully piss on that parade.
The skeptic inside me says [the UFC] probably want that to happen,” he said. “If I was running the UFC, that’s what I’d want to happen. My job is to play spoiler, wreck all those plans, and beat the s*** out of Georges St-Pierre.
The way I’m performing, I’m knocking guys out every round. I honestly believe I can stop Georges, I can knock him out, I can beat him. I respect his wrestling, I’m not terrified of his wrestling. I’ve prepared for that. I think I’m gonna stop him. I’m gonna stop the little Frenchie in Madison Square Garden.
