Michael Bisping Talks ‘Douchebag’ Luke Rockhold: We Can Go Toe To Toe If He Wants
UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping has his hands full as he prepares to face Cung Le at UFC Fight Night 48. Scheduled to face the Sanshou black belt in Macau, China, ‘The Count’ would do well to keep his focus on the American Kickboxing Academy student. All this, and Bisping is still looking towards a potential bout with another former Strikeforce standout in Luke Rockhold.
‘The Count’ and ‘Rocky’ have been trading barbs for a while now, and Bisping threw another one out during a recent appearance on UFC Tonight, as transcribed by MMAMania.com:
“”When Luke Rockhold is done making a douche bag out of himself, hanging out at pool parties with teenagers, if he wants to get back to business and step into the Octagon, I’m the man for the job. After his last fight, he called me out. But then he said he hurt his little pinky toe. If his toe’s healed up, and he wants to get back to business, we can go toe to toe, or pinky to pinky.”
Bisping has gone 3-3 in his last six UFC outings, dropping losses to Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen and Tim Kennedy. A loss to Le in Macau could prove very costly to Bisping’s future title hopes, and he had come very close to a shot at Anderson Silva’s title with a four fight spree between 2010-11. Unfortunately for ‘The Count’, Chael Sonnen put an end to that with his decision win over Bisping in 2012.
Winner of The Ultimate Fighter 3, and sporting an overall record of 24-6, could the clock be ticking on the fighting career of the 35-year old Brit? If so, a bout against a guy like Rockhold could certainly reignite the talk of title fights for Bisping. Obviously a win against Le is essential to regain momentum, but will the Vietnamese kickboxer be a willing stepping stone?
Due to his brash, trash talking style, ‘The Count’ is never short on potential opposition, but it’s hard to imagine he will talk his way in to a fight with top ten prospect Rockhold if he is on the back of two losses. That being said, could Bisping be a return fight for Rockhold once he heals his broken toe, assuming ‘The Count’ wins in China?
