As talk of Georges St-Pierre’s return to the UFC has gone from theoretical to an official reality, talk of a potential Michael Bisping vs. GSP fight has grown with it. It’s an idea that’s been kicking around since the middle of 2016, when rumors that GSP was set to make a comeback first gained real steam. Bisping, fresh off winning the middleweight title, jumped on the opportunity and has yet to let go.
As GSP was sorting his contract status with the UFC, Bisping ended up facing Dan Henderson. But, with that fight now in the rear-view mirror, and with GSP officially back, “The Count” seems to be making a heavy play to face the welterweight GOAT in his MMA return. And Yoel Romero’s manager, Malki Kawa, sounds concerned that the UFC will make that fight and pass his client up. Kawa spoke about the middleweight title situation on the Luke Thomas Show (transcript via MMA Fighting):
“What I’ve seen from Mike is that he’s gonna call his shots and he’s gonna make smart moves, which I can’t blame him for. If you were managing Michael Bisping or you were Michael Bisping and you had your choice of waiting on a guy who’s been out for two and a half years, which might get you your largest payday, or fighting a guy who’s probably the scariest person in the UFC at this point. You’re talking about 10 fights, nine of them are knockouts? I don’t know that you’d want to fight this guy either.
“So I understand Michael Bisping but I also put this on Georges St-Pierre... Honestly, if he said, ‘I want to fight 170,’ he could easily come down and fight Tyron Woodley. But pick between Tyron Woodley and Michael Bisping. If you’re managing Michael Bisping, who do you choose and if you’re managing Georges St-Pierre, who do you choose? I think at the end of the day you stay clear of Yoel Romero and Tyron Woodley for as much as you can. And that’s the problem that we’re having right now.”
Or, to put it more bluntly...
“I don’t care what anybody says, he is absolutely ducking Yoel Romero right now. It’s been confirmed to me by everybody at the UFC. Michael Bisping wants no part of Yoel Romero at this point. None whatsoever.
“I’m not telling you that he’s necessarily ducking him because he doesn’t want to ever fight him, I just think that right now, at this point he’s just trying to sidestep that fight, take this Georges St-Pierre fight, hope he wins, and if he wins, ‘I’ll fight Yoel Romero.’ If he doesn’t win, ‘I got my payday,’ and then Yoel can go and fight Georges.”
Kawa also added that, as far as his client is concerned, it’s “Michael Bisping or bust” and they wouldn’t consider a fight for anything other than the middleweight title. If that is the case, and if the UFC does book GSP vs. Bisping, it may be a little while until fans see Romero in the cage again.