It's on again...
Just days after UFC President Dana White insisted that Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre was off the table, he had a change of heart.
Prior to UFC 214, White had made his plans clear that the winner of the welterweight title fight between Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia would defend the belt against the returning GSP.
But the crowd's response to the lack of action in Woodley vs. Maia seemingly forced White to arrive at the conclusion that the co-main event's winner, Woodley, would not be worthy of the lucrative payday that is guaranteed with St-Pierre's comeback.
"If you get booed out of the arena, that’s not good," White said on Saturday night. "That’s not how you make your money. If people don’t want to watch you, that’s a bad sign."
https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/892034649014325250
The UFC president revealed that Bisping vs. GSP was back on, with the latter moving up to 185lbs for the first time in his career to challenge for the Brit's middleweight title.
An injury to the interim middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, has reportedly ruled him out until 2018 and, in the meantime, White has seemingly given the green light for one of the most anticipated contests of the year.
And on his podcast this week, Bisping confirmed the date and venue for his clash with the greatest 170lber in the history of the sport.
"I start looking at Twitter as I’m walking down to get changed out of my suit and Twitter is blowing up like crazy and everyone is retweeting Dana talking about the press conference and I’m like what the fuck?" Bisping said on
Believe You Me. "Then boom, I get a text from Dana saying 'call me!'
"I’m like: 'Woah fuck, here we go!'
"So I call Dana but there’s no answer, so I’m thinking you know he’s probably still doing his interviews and what not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbbku4b4G_E
"I drive home later on and Dana calls. There you go, the fight is on November 4 in Madison Square Garden - Michael Bisping vs. GSP for the third time!
"After Dana had made it public, the amount of people texting me ‘congrats’, ‘amazing’... everyone is saying ‘congrats’ and I’m like: 'What do you mean fucking ‘congrats?'
"I appreciate the sentiment I really do, but I’m like I’ve been here three times with people saying congratulations for this fucking fight which has yet to materialise."
