In 10 days, Michael Bisping will defend his UFC middleweight title against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 and much of the talk surrounding the fight has been about what comes afterwards. Bisping has been all over the map about his future, saying he’d like to move up to light heavyweight to fight Daniel Cormier but also saying he may retire after UFC 217. Meanwhile, St-Pierre has been very straightforward, saying he will retire for good the next time he loses, but that should he win the title, he is contractually obligated to defend the belt against interim champion Robert Whittaker for his next fight.

Not everyone believes him though.

Speaking recently on his Believe You Me podcast, Bisping suggested that St-Pierre has a plan for after UFC 217 and it doesn’t involve Robert Whittaker or defending the middleweight title at all.

“He keeps talking about, ‘It’s in the contract. It’s in the contract that I fight Whittaker,’ but he ain’t,” said Bisping. “He ain’t gonna fight Whittaker if it’s in the contract or not. I believe it is in the contract but all he’s gotta do is say, ‘I don’t fancy doing that and if you want me to fight again and maybe sell a lot of pay-per-views, it’s gotta be someone else.’ The UFC would fold, I’ve got to imagine.

“He wants to beat me, go back down to welterweight, beat [UFC welterweight champion] Tyron [Woodley], and then face [UFC lightweight champion] Conor [McGregor], beat all three, and then retire and make a ton of money. And the UFC probably wants that to happen. By that I don’t mean beat Conor, I mean beat me. Beat me, then either beat Woodley or go straight to Conor.

“He doesn’t need to fight regularly. . . [St-Pierre can] fight sometime towards the end of next year and in the meantime, Conor can fight Diaz or Ferguson, whichever one it’s gonna be, and then he can take some time off, and in the meantime, St-Pierre can be losing the weight to meet at a catchweight.”

It’s a plan that a lot of MMA fans believe St-Pierre is trying for, despite St-Pierre’s insistence that he’s not targeting a McGregor fight in the future, and it makes sense. McGregor and St-Pierre are two of the biggest stars in the history of the sport. If St-Pierre can return to the cage and claim the middleweight title after a four year hiatus, it would boost his profile enormously and a fight with McGregor would likely be the biggest fight in UFC history.

The financial repercussions of that fight are so massive that even Bisping admits it’s the outcome he would be cheering for if he owned the UFC. But since he doesn’t Bisping is out to rain all over GSP’s money parade.

“The skeptic inside me says [the UFC] probably want that to happen. If I was running the UFC, that’s what I’d want to happen. My job is to play spoiler, wreck all those plans, and beat the s**t out of Georges St-Pierre.

“The way I’m performing, I’m knocking guys out every round. I honestly believe I can stop Georges, I can knock him out, I can beat him. I respect his wrestling, I’m not terrified of his wrestling. I’ve prepared for that. I think I’m gonna stop him. I’m gonna stop the little Frenchie in Madison Square Garden.”

MUST-READ STORIES

Zuffa Boxing. Dana White says the UFC may one day promote boxing as well.

All in. Scott Coker is open to a Paul Daley vs. Michael Page “winner take all match.”

Fake. Andre Fili calls Conor McGregor out for being “fake” with him after Lobov fight.

Allegations. T.J. Dillashaw denies injuring Chris Holdsworth with a cheap shot.

Broken. Darren Till says Donald Cerrone was a “broken man” at UFC Gdansk.

VIDEO STEW

The MMA (After) Hour.

Bisping on Vice Sports.

DJ discussing his KO of JoeB is worth 2 minutes of your time.

Derrick Lewis on TMZ.

Bunch of DWTNCS free fights went up.

LISTEN UP

Fights Gone By. Jack Slack on Darren Till announcing himself in the division.

Obviously Fight Talk. UFC Gdansk recap plus a Linton Vassell interview.

The MMA Circus. Gdansk, Bellator, and Sao Paulo are all discussed.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Till.

Just gonna put it out there, but imagine the chess game of striking me and wonderboy would have? #HighLevelStriking — Darren Till (@darrentill2) October 24, 2017

Lol.

Now we have a Brazilian speaking our native tongue... Scouse your a sick man @renato_laranja A post shared by Till (@darrentill2) on Oct 24, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

Update.

USADA still testing Jon Jones, as case pends. Records show he was tested 4th quarter of 2017. I'm told it was 10/11, results were clean. — Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 24, 2017

Paulie.

I tell you what we could do just so we at least even the stakes, I fight he and Conor in the same night. I'm not even kidding either lol. https://t.co/u9IEivj1Ua — Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) October 24, 2017

Doubling down.

Fighters are into it.

Where do I sign https://t.co/diCFZKyAe1 — Ross Pearson (@RossTheRealDeal) October 25, 2017

Colby.

My haters need to wake up. American Wrestling has DOMINATED @ufc since the beginning. #UFCSaoPaulo will be no different. #USAWrestling — Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) October 24, 2017

Poirier is doing so fancy stuff.

Great session last night with @darustrong and @mrmentalmuscle thank you for your dedication this camp guys!! #ufcnorfolk A post shared by Dustin Poirier (@dustinpoirier) on Oct 24, 2017 at 6:16am PDT

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Will Brooks (19-3) vs. Nik Lentz (27-8-2, 1 NC); UFC Sydney, Nov. 19.

Anthony Hamilton (15-8) vs. Adam Wieczorek (8-1); UFC Sydney, Nov. 19.

Damien Brown (17-10) vs. Frank Camacho (20-5); UFC Sydney, Nov. 19.

Marc Diakiese (12-1) vs. Daniel Hooker (14-7); UFC 219, Dec. 30.

TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2008: Anderson Silva defended his UFC middleweight title against Patrick Cote at UFC 90, winning when Cote injured his knee in the third round. On the undercard that evening, Junior dos Santos made his UFC debut, knocking out Fabricio Werdum in 80 seconds.

2014: Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes put on one of the fights of the year with their rematch at UFC 179. Aldo won by unanimous decision.

FINAL THOUGHTS

That’s all for today folks, see y’all tomorrow.

EXIT POLL

Poll If GSP beats Bisping, is his next fight against McGregor? This poll is closed. 37% Yes (515 votes)

62% No (870 votes) 1385 votes total Vote Now

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