Michael Bisping has been around the Ultimate Fighting Championship long enough to know how to effectively leverage himself.

So when England’s Bisping was in Toronto shooting a film with Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson on Tuesday and noticed on Twitter that former middleweight champion Chris Weidman was pulling out of his UFC 199 title-fight rematch against Luke Rockhold June 4 at the Forum, Bisping went to work.

He texted UFC President Dana White, “If I had to [fight] in two weeks, I could, so give me a shout. You know where I am.”

White said his first preference was higher-ranked Jacare Souza, but when he reported knee pain from a Saturday victory in Brazil, the fourth-ranked Bisping, 37, was in.


Rockhold (15-2), after capturing the belt in December with a fourth-round knockout of Weidman, knocked out Bisping (29-7) with a head kick in November 2014.

“This will be the rubber match in some ways,” Bisping said. “The first time, in training, he knows I beat the [heck] out of him. I had him all over the place, put him on his [rear]. The other fight was going well. I was winning the first round, but then he caught me with a good head kick. God bless him, that was the end of that.

“But I get to go again. It only takes one shot. I get a shot at redemption.”

Bisping has won his three fights since the Rockhold defeat, including a February decision over former long-reigning middleweight champion Anderson Silva in England.


“I can beat this guy,” Bisping said. “It’s a short camp, but I just had a long talk with my boxing coach … and he thinks in many ways it will work out for the best. Normally what I do in a full camp, I always over-train. I stress out. I over-analyze it. I’m my own worst enemy. This camp, I won’t. Just get in the best shape I can and fight. I’m going to do my best.”

It’s less than a three-week training camp for Bisping. He said he tested himself by doing a sprint drill on the treadmill that he usually saves for late in camp.

“Am I in the best shape of my life right now? No I’m not,” Bisping said. “But I ran the sprints yesterday and finished it. It was hard, it killed me, but I can do this.

“[Rockhold] looked so good because he fought Weidman. Weidman’s slow. I knew that would happen. I’m fast -- faster on my feet, faster in striking. He has the range, but I’ve got to be faster than this guy.”


Bisping also said there’s an intellectual edge at play.

“The more I’ve been around Luke -- there’s nothing that grates on me. If anything, I feel sorry for him,” Bisping said. “He’s got so little going on between the ears … he has no personality whatsoever. He looks good, but he has nothing going on.”

Bisping added of Rockhold: “Great fighter. He can throw a punch, kick, is good at jujitsu. I’m not doing this for a payday.… I’m doing this because I believe it’s my destiny to be world champion.”