Joe Schilling is approaching two years since he last competed in an MMA fight. Make no mistake, though – he’s not done with the sport just yet.

Schilling (2-5 MMA, 1-2 BMMA), who has earned much of his fame as a standout kickboxer, has mixed results in MMA competition. He’s won just two of seven fights, with his most recent being a memorable knockout loss to Hisaki Kato at Bellator 139 in June 2015.

Schilling also has some high points, though, including 2014’s “Knockout of the Year” over Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 131, as well as a narrow split-decision loss to current Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 136 in April 2015.

Carvalho (13-1 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) and Manhoef (30-13-1 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) meet for Bellator’s 185-pound title in Saturday’s Bellator 176 main event, which takes place at Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, and airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie. Although Schilling doesn’t have the resume to get an immediate title shot against the winner, he thinks the fact he has a history with both competitors makes it possible.

“I’m ready for that if they want to do that,” Schilling told MMAjunkie. “I would love the opportunity, and I’m sure Melvin wants to run that one back again. It was an ‘Oh (expletive)’ fight the first time, and it would be an ‘Oh (expletive)’ fight the second time. Two guys that actually bring it for the middleweight title, and we haven’t had that for a couple years now (with Carvalho as champion). It could happen.”

Schilling’s current fight schedule strictly revolved around kickboxing. He meets Alexander Negrea at Bellator Kickboxing 6 on April 14 in Budapest, Hungary, but after that he has nothing confirmed on the horizon.

Although nearly two years have passed since Schilling participated in MMA, he said he hasn’t been sitting idle. He trains daily with Bellator fighter Guilherme “Bomba” Vasconcelos, who he said has helped him evolve into a significantly better and more complete MMA fighter.

“I have an MMA fight multiple days a week with ‘Bomba’ in the gym,” Schilling said. “I feel more comfortable now than I did last time I knocked out Melvin. It’s a completely different sport than kickboxing, and the more I do it the more comfortable I become. I’ve been doing it for a couple years straight now.”

Booking fights is all about timing, and Schilling believes the timing will be right for him to jump back into MMA after his upcoming Bellator Kickboxing fight. Bellator’s middleweight division is absent an interesting name who could challenge the Carvalho vs. Manhoef winner for the title, and Schilling hopes decision-makers see the logic in why it should be him.

“I would love to do it,” Schilling said. “I’m sure Melvin would love to do it, I’m sure (Bellator President) Scott Coker would love to do it. If Rafael Carvalho shows up, we can do it.”

For more on Bellator 176, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.