MANCHESTER, England – UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi is apparently done being quiet.

It was frustration boiling over, and perhaps a new career strategy. Mousasi, the No. 9 middleweight in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, shot from the hip and dropped some gold quotes at a solo news conference following his second-round TKO of ex-champ Vitor Belfort at UFC 204.

On his dismantling of the feared striker and No. 6 ranked Belfort (25-13 MMA, 14-9 UFC), Mousasi (40-6-2 MMA, 7-3 UFC), whose fight served as the event’s pay-per-view co-headliner at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, started off with, “I feel I have the best standup in the middleweight division. I think I’ve been dominating since USADA came.”

That likely was a reference to Belfort’s long and checkered past with failed drug tests, and the rapidly changing physiques that have entered the cage since the third-party firm stepped into the picture. But he wasn’t done there.

“Uriah Hall was a fluke,” Mousasi declared. “Anyone who knows anything about this sport knows it was a fluke. I hope to get that rematch one day. I’m top five.”

Speaking of rankings, Mousasi, who’s won his past three since Hall (12-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) upset him at UFC Fight Night 75, is not a fan of them. The list only seems to have made it more difficult for him to advance in spite of several impressive performances, and he’s a little fed up.

“If I fight Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker, Vitor Belfort, I’m the favorite,” he said. “So you tell me? Is it a popularity contest? We can do a catwalk. (Expletive).”

Mousasi is bound to get a name with a lower number attached the next time he steps into the octagon. The question now is when that will happen. As he noted, four of the top contenders are represented in scheduled bouts between Chris Weidman and Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.

But he’s got a solution for that, which he tweeted while spitting a little fire on the microphone.

“I beat Hendo in less than 2 minutes and @bisping went 5 rounds with him,” Mousasi wrote. “(Expletive) it, let’s just go for gold! @danawhite give me the champ!”

I beat Hendo in less than 2 minutes and @bisping went 5 rounds with him. Fuck it, let's just go for gold! @danawhite give me the champ! — Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) October 9, 2016

The champ, Michael Bisping, didn’t mention his name in a post-fight tirade after avenging a loss to Dan Henderson in UFC 204’s headliner. Maybe that will change after the Brit reads his quotes.

“Maybe I’ll throw some bottles at someone’s head and people will notice me,” deadpanned Mousasi, referring to the infamous water bottle news conference between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz at UFC 202. “I’ll fight Michael Bisping. With his performance tonight? I like Michael Bisping. But you guys know I can beat Michael Bisping. I will jab his face the whole night. Easy.”

Mousasi was actually linked to fight Bisping earlier this year, but saw the official booking go to ex-champ Anderson Silva. It was perhaps that fight that re-ignited Bisping’s run at the middleweight title after two failed title eliminators, while Mousasi went on to beat onetime title challenger Thales Leites.

Then, Mousasi noted, he was supposed to fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 when Jon Jones was flagged for an anti-doping violation. Silva somehow got that opportunity, leaving him to Thiago Santos, another tough, but relatively unknown name.

It would be hard to blame him for being a little miffed.

“It was me or Anderson at that moment – there weren’t any other guys to choose from,” Mousasi said. “Anderson had just come from an operation, laying on his couch. They woke him up, gave him some medical tests, and they gave him the title shot. He wasn’t able to go five rounds, so he chose three rounds, and he was just happy holding on for three rounds to survive. At that time, I also deserved to fight for the belt, if it was (between) me and Anderson. So I don’t know. My time will come. My time will come.”

It looked as though Mousasi had perhaps gotten a look from someone on his team, and decided against going further. He stopped himself, but only briefly.

Later, he couldn’t help himself when asked to explain why people like McGregor are popular and guys like him, well, struggle.

“McGregor is good for the sport, but what is it?” Mousasi said. “You had Muhammad Ali. He was a hero. He did big things. But now you have (Floyd) Mayweather and McGregor. Everybody loves it. That sells. People are stupid. They don’t know who’s a real fighter. They just like to see expensive stuff on Instagram, probably. I don’t know.”

There’s talking, and then there’s shooting yourself in the foot a little bit. He’s trying to find the balance while he tries to find his next opponent.

“They could give me an easy fight, like Uriah Hall,” he said. “Or I get a tough fight, one of the four (contenders).”

Mousasi will wait for the answer. He’s still in the dark about why people don’t take him seriously. But he promises he’ll make an impression with his remaining fights.

“Circumstances play a big factor,” he told MMAjunkie. “I think in my last six performances I’ve been dominating everybody. It was a little bit rough in the beginning, coming off an injury and being an idiot and taking a fight against (Alexander) Gustafsson. I tore my ACL. My knee was popping out. I took that fight. I had surgery, and I came back and fought (Lyoto) Machida, who cheated, who was greased up, and good for him, he’s suspended.

“It’s stupidity. Now, I’m a little bit smarter. I’m not going to take any fight that’s not going to make sense for me. But I can fight anybody. I’m in my prime now.”

For complete coverage UFC 204, check out the UFC Events section of the site.