Michael Bisping: Middleweight is more stacked than ever, but the champ isn’t defending his belt

Michael Bisping sits with a 13-4 record in the UFC, having come quite a long way since his days on The Ultimate Fighter. Now campaigning for a Middleweight title shot, he has lost to only the best fighters throughout his whole career. Perhaps this is what keeps him from reaching the top of the mountain. Set to face Vitor Belfort, Bisping has begun to make a strong case for the creation of an interim Middleweight title:

“Regarding Anderson, his last fight was at light heavyweight. His next fight is going to be at a catch-weight. When will be fight at middleweight? What if he gets injured and has to be on the sidelines? All that time will have passed. All the fighters at the top of the middleweight division are on the sidelines. We all want to be world champion some day. We work so hard and strive for it.

It’s not there if Anderson isn’t defending the title. I’m not knocking him. He’s the greatest fighter we have. But a champion needs to defend the title or he needs to vacate it. And when he comes back to middleweight, he should get an automatic shot. Or they should create an interim title. With Weidman out for six months, I don’t think (Tim) Boetsch would have beaten Weidman. I think myself and Vitor should be fighting for the interim title. Whoever wins it should defend it. We keep the division moving. The division is more stacked than it’s ever been but the champion isn’t defending the belt.” – via MMAFighting.com

Bisping is never a man to hold back his words, and has gained the ire of many an MMA fan because of that. However, he may have a point here, as Anderson Silva stated he would wait until the end of next year to fight again. The superfight with GSP speculation is still the elephant in the room as well. All of this does make it seem like the Middleweight division is on hold. Should there be the creation of an interim title to get the 185 lb. arena moving?