Rockhold wants to shut up ‘drunk idiot’ Bisping, title or not

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold appeared recently on Submission Radio and discussed the state of the division. Rockhold lost his belt to Michael Bisping. Rather than the #1 contender, The Count’s first title defense was a rematch vs. Dan Henderson; their first fight ended in what is widely regarded as the best KO in UFC history. For his second title defense, rather than the #1 contender, Bisping now faces a returning Georges St-Pierre, who has not fought since 2013.

It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Rockhold. “I don’t know what to say right now. I’m not here to dance around, I’m not here to fight chumps and just do my thing. I’m coming right back for the title. And seeing this play out the way it has, it’s quite frustrating, I’m not gonna lie. So I’m taking my time.

Unfortunate that they took the route they took. I understand the business and I understand what they’re doing but I don’t think they’re really thinking ahead in making this fight. I think there’s a lot of better options other than tying up the division and making this thing happen. I don’t think Bisping’s a draw. He hasn’t proven to be a draw, so what’s the point of putting GSP in there with him, a man that’s never obviously fought at middleweight and has been out for three years? I think [GSP] and Nick Diaz, I think [GSP] – Anderson Silva, I think there’s a lot of other fights that make the money they need.

[Bisping] is not gonna fight one of the top contenders, I guarantee you that,” he said. “He won’t fight one, he won’t fight two and he won’t fight three, guarantee it.

Rockhold wants revenge, even more than the title. If GSP wins, Rockhold’s focus will change.

I’m taking a detour,” he said. “I’m going straight for Bisping’s ass. He’s been running his mouth, he’s been talking and avoiding every fight possible. That’s the fight I would pursue – shut him up, move on. There’s nothing more to be done. Bisping has run his mouth quite a bit.

“And getting upset of the year, I heard he caused quite a stir in Las Vegas this weekend being a drunk idiot and running his mouth. The guy’s out of his mind thinking he expected what he was gonna do, thinking he knew what he was gonna do. I’ll tell you what, when a guy’s gonna do, how he reacts after a fight. You go watch our first fight, that’s when a guy knows what he’s gonna do. Bisping knows he’s a lucky son of a b****, you know, squeaking out the way he did, and he’s gonna run with it. So that’s the fight. He thinks he didn’t get lucky, he knows. Look at his face after the second fight. That’s a sign of a lucky man on the run.

Rockhold is currently out with a knee injury but believes he can avoid surgery.

I feel good about it,” he said. “The stem cells, you know, I got those in and it was working well for me last time and so I think the knee is – I don’t have the pain like I used to. And I‘m still not ready to throw it given the timeline the doctors gave me, so I’m just gonna wait till the end of the month and I’m gonna start slowly testing this kick.

I mean, ideally looking at the schedule I think of July [for his Octagon return]. You know, international fight week is looking pretty ideal. So that’s what I’m looking at. It matters about the division too, we’ve got some funny stuff happening. So it’s unfortunate and I’m just gonna be looking for the right opponent when the time falls.