UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping expects same old St. Pierre
UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping has heard Georges St. Pierre talk a great deal about going back to his early days as a fighter and looking for a finish with his striking when he returns to action in the main event of UFC 217 in New York on Saturday.
Bisping’s not buying a word of it.
“I’ll guarantee you I see more aggression out of my wife when she’s Christmas shopping than what we’ll see out of Georges at Madison Square Garden,” Bisping said on a conference call ahead of his title defense against St. Pierre, who has been out of action since vacating his welterweight title and taking a hiatus in 2013. “He’s going to fight the same way he always fights. Listen, he’s saying he’s reinvented the wheel and he’s going to do something different, but here’s the facts and Georges knows this: When you’re under pressure, you fight the way you fight. You go back to your comfort zone.”
St. Pierre has won 12 consecutive fights, but the last eight have all gone the distance.
He has said he believes Bisping is scared of his wrestling and grappling abilities entering this fight.
The champion literally laughed when reminded of the statement.
“For Georges to use the word terrifying about himself is the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard,” Bisping said. “Georges is a very technical guy but there’s nothing terrifying about him in the slightest. There’s nothing remotely scary about him whatsoever. Now, do I respect his wrestling credentials? Of course I do. That’s why I’ve brought in way better wrestling coaches. So, if Georges can get it done, God bless him. If Georges can beat me, raise his hand and say well done.”
Bisping believes he is too big and strong for St. Pierre, who has spent nearly his entire career at welterweight.
He is ready to welcome St. Pierre back to the cage, though he knows a win may upset some of his bosses.
Bisping says his recent comments on his podcast that UFC executives will be rooting for St. Pierre to win in order to set up some big-money matchups down the road was “a little tongue-in-cheek,” but he knows St. Pierre has the potential to do big business if he proves to be anything close to the fighter he was before the hiatus.
“Listen, at the end of the day, if I’m the UFC, I’m mortified because Georges is a welterweight,” Bisping said. “He could probably go down, meet Conor (McGregor) in a catch-weight bout and that would be a massive fight. I could never fight Conor. Conor’s about the size of my leg, so I could never fight him. But business-wise, I guess Georges could make more money because he could fight the title for welterweight, then he could fight Conor or maybe a lightweight, who knows?
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The bout headlines a pay-per-view event also featuring a women’s strawweight title bout between Rose Namajunas and champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and a bantamweight bout between champion Cody Garbrandt and former champ T.J. Dillashaw.
Covington offers “aplology”
Rising UFC welterweight star Colby Covington probably didn’t make many new fans in Brazil despite an impressive win over Demian Maia in Sao Paulo over the weekend.
Covington burned those bridges and left town.
“Brazil, you’re a dump!” Covington yelled into the microphone after his victory Saturday night. “All you filthy animals suck.”
He issued what he called a “formal apology” Sunday, when he essentially just doubled down on his comments.
“I went to work last week. I was screamed at, spit at, assaulted with water bottles and other objects by an angry mob and serenaded by 10,000 voices screaming, ‘You are going to die,’” he wrote on social media after he was showered with beers and angry insults on his way back to the locker room. “My employer had to place security at my hotel room to protect me. I would like to formally apologize to any filthy animal I offended by comparing them to my hosts in Sao Paulo.”
Covington’s comments were quickly denounced by UFC officials and several Brazilian fighters, including some of his teammates at American Top Team in Florida.
Nurmagomedov set to return
Top UFC lightweight contender will fight Edson Barboza at UFC 219 on Dec. 30 at T-Mobile Arena.
Nurmagomedov, who is 24-0 as a pro and 8-0 since signing with the UFC, will return for the first time since withdrawing from a scheduled interim title fight against Tony Ferguson in April. He last competed in November 2016.
Barboza has won three straight since a loss to Ferguson.
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.