The middleweight division has seen the last of Michael Bisping.
The former 185lbs kingpin has no interest in putting himself through another drastic weight cut if he does decide to take one last fight before retirement.
Bisping has been considering hanging up his gloves for several months after opportunities to compete in London and Liverpool passed him by.
Several potential opponents have been linked with the Bisping fight, the most recent of which is Nick Diaz.
A rumour did the rounds this week which suggested that Bisping could welcome Diaz back to the Octagon for his first bout in three years.
Bisping has claimed that there is no truth to the rumour that he’s set to fight Diaz but that doesn’t mean that he would turn the bout down if it was offered.
“No, I’m not fighting Nick Diaz at all,” Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “It’s total bulls**t. I haven’t spoken to the UFC about anything. They haven’t come to me. I’m probably retired, I just haven’t made it official.
“It’s bulls**t. I haven’t heard a single thing. The UFC haven’t reached out, management haven’t reached out, no one has said anything. As I said, I haven’t made my mind up completely but I’m very, very close to retirement.”
Diaz is technically free to fight again after accepting a one-year suspension for failing to post his whereabouts around three drug tests with the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
And while his family wants him to retire, Bisping admits that he would not be averse to meeting Diaz in a catchweight match-up between two of the sport’s greatest trash talkers.
“Here’s the thing, Nick Diaz is one of the legends of the sport,” said Bisping.
“The guy is one of the original, old-school fighters and what I like about Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz [is that] they’re real fighters. They are real fighters and they come to fight every time. They’re always entertaining and they say a lot of controversial s**t but they’re real fighters.
“They’re not trying to pretend to be something. They don’t do MMA because they think it’s cool. They’re not jumping on the bandwagon. It’s who they are. They are f**king fighters, they’ll throw down at a moment’s notice, in the octagon or on the street. They are fighters, simple as that and that’s what I respect about them.
“Nick Diaz is someone that I definitely respect and if there was a possibility of that fight, then for sure I would accept it. People would want to see that. The only issue is that if I do fight [again] I want it at 205lbs and I don’t think Nick would do 205lbs. Making 185lbs for the last 10 years has been so hard. Making 185lbs is not an easy task, not an easy task at all, so if I’m going to fight one more time, it’s gonna be at light heavyweight. Or I’d do a catchweight, maybe at 195lbs or whatever but making 185lbs for me is too hard. So if Nick would be willing to come up, I’ll do it. I’ll accept. I’m down. I’m in. Sign me up.”
