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10th March 2017
08:23am GMT

"Listen, Joe's a very smart man and he's very learned on the subject of mixed martial arts and the UFC. He's been around forever. He knows the sport, but as I say, he kind of contradicted himself. He's like, 'why have title fights?' but then he says, 'I, for sure, would get the popcorn and buy this PPV."https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/839834802480156673 Bisping explained that the promotion came to him with the GSP fight offer and he merely accepted it. At 38 years old, he's aware that his time at the top of the middleweight pile could come to a grinding halt at any moment and to him, taking on a huge PPV draw like 'Rush' in a superfight just made more sense from a business perspective than taking on a number one contender who doesn't move the needle half as much.
"See, to become a champion, you have to pay your dues which I did for a long, long, long time. When you become the champion, it changes because now, it's only a very small portion, but you get a portion of the PPV. Now every single fight you have, there's a possibility you're going to lose that fight, So you want to maximise the potential."
"You want the fights to be as big as possible, but in terms of credibility as well, that has to be a factor. With Georges St-Pierre coming back, I feel like I'm trying to justify a point that I've said a million times, but Joe actually just said there himself, he would buy the fight. He 100% would buy it, so therefore, there goes my argument."https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/785770423388672001 Rogan also challenged Bisping on his claim that he would be looking to have a quick turnaround and take on 'The Soldier of God' a few weeks after the GSP fight. The man who knocked out Luke Rockhold after stepping in on 17 days notice argued that not waiting around to fight Romero would make perfect sense for him, as long as he didn't get hurt.
"Well actually, it's not crazy, it's not ludicrous, it's not beyond the realms of imagination, because Georges St-Pierre, in a lot of ways, is the perfect warm-up fight for Yoel Romero. They've got very similar styles. Yes, Yoel is bigger and hits harder, but they've both got fantastic wrestling, they're both shorter guys than me."
"Say we fight, I don't know when it is, say UFC 215 for argument's sake. UFC 217, I'll do it (fight Romero). I'll do it because I don't want all the work I've done, all the wrestling work I've done, I don't want to get rusty in that regard."Remember folks, the UFC pushed for this fight. Bisping and GSP merely accepted their offer.
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