One thing we know for sure is that Michael Bisping won’t be retiring at UFC London next month.
Having toyed with the idea of hanging up his gloves in his native England with one final fight on the March 17 card, Bisping’s future remains up in the air.
‘The Count’ had gone back-and-forth on the retirement fight, with his family urging him to turn down the opportunity to take to the Octagon one last time.
An opponent had even been picked for Bisping, with a rematch against former foe Rashad Evans reportedly lined up for the UFC’s return to the United Kingdom.
Evans, who defeated Bisping via split decision in 2007, had even started training for the fight but it fell apart due to “contract problems” between the Brit and the UFC.
“I started training and getting ready for the fight, but then I didn’t hear anything back about a contract. Finally, I got a contract, but that was on the day that I learned that Bisping wasn’t going to take the fight. He wasn’t going to do the fight because he was having some kind of contract problems with the UFC,” Evans said on the MMA Hour.
“I don’t think the fight will happen now. I think that was fight that made sense to him at that moment. I don’t think it’s something that’s going to make sense for him. It may appeal to him, it may not. I really don’t know, but I’m not going to sit around and wait for it. I’ll just fight whoever and see what comes next.”
Having missed out on a spot on the London card, Bisping remains open to the idea of fighting later on this year and another former UFC light heavyweight champion has emerged as a potential opponent, with Lyoto Machida calling Bisping out for a battle of the veterans.
Fresh from his victory over Eryk Anders in Brazil earlier this month, Machida put his name forward to share the Octagon with Bisping for what would be the 40th fight of the Brit’s professional career.
“He [Machida] called me out, once again,” Bisping said on his podcast Believe You Me. “He just said we were supposed to fight a couple of times over the years and that it hadn’t happened and that basically, he had a lot of respect for me. And I have a lot of respect for Machida, I really do.
“He’s one of the true, last martial arts specialists and one of the true martial artists that competes in the Octagon, so I have respect for him.
“The Rashad fight we spoke about but it didn’t materialise. The Machida fight is something as well that could potentially serve as my last fight.
“[It’s] very similar to Rashad in many ways: former champion, had a long career, getting to the final stages of his career, somebody that I haven’t fought and have a lot of respect for, that’s had a great career. So, it ticks all the boxes from that standpoint and that’s about it.”
