It’s official: GSP to fight Michael Bisping for the title

UFC president Dana White just appeared on ESPN SportsCenter and announced that George St-Pierre will fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight title. The place and date have not been set. There will be a press conference with Bisping and GSP on Friday in Las Vegas, where more details will presumably be announced.

St-Pierre, the welterweight G.O.A.T., has not fought since 2013. Shortly after winning a grueling split decision over Johny Hendricks, GSP announced a temporary retirement, and gave up his belt, citing the need to rest. He later expanded that to include concerns about doping in the league, among other points.

On July 1, 2015, the UFC instituted what is arguably the toughest anti-doping program in the sports world. And in time negotiations for the return of GSP commenced but apparently broke down over apparel sponsorship. The UFC is wedded to Reebok, and GSP has a deal with UnderArmor. At one point things got so bad St-Pierre reported that he was a free agent, which the UFC firmly denied. By October, UFC president Dana White said the relationship between the two had never been better.

Then in mid-February, UFC President Dana White told Lance Pugmire for the LA Times that the return was official, and discussed potential opponents.

It could be the winner between Tyron Woodley and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, or it could be Michael Bisping,” said White. “Georges has also talked about fighting at 155 pounds. He says he can make the weight. But I have no idea when he’s going to fight right now. We don’t have anything booked and literally haven’t talked to anybody about it.

Apparently, they have now talked about it, and the who is set, although not the when and the why.

During St-Pierre’s absence, Michael Bisping has gone 5-0. He decisioned C.B. Dollaway, then split decisioned Thales Leites, then decisioned an aging Anderson Silva in the fight of the night. That earned him a shot at Luke Rockhold, who got cocky, and KOed in the first. For his first title defense, Bisping got a rematch vs. Dan Henderson. Their first fight ended for Hendo, with the most famous KO in UFC history. The rematch went to Bisping.

A four-man middleweight tournament was undertaken to determine the #1 contender. After some confusion, Yoel Romero emerged and bickered with Bisping on the social network. The Olympians’ reaction to this latest announcement is likely something like “A!A!A!A!AAAAAAAAAAA!”

For the technically minded, this is how the fight breaks out –

https://twitter.com/Fightnomics/status/836991759766831104

And for the usual fans of the sport, the fight breaks down as awesome.