Michael Bisping sizzles on why Georges St-Pierre wanted him for return fight

With taking over three years off from fighting in the UFC, Georges St-Pierre is set to fight in the Octagon once again and will be going up a weight class to take on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title.

With his UFC career leading up to this fight taking place in the welterweight division, fans are all anxious to see how “Rush” will do after the long layoff and going up in weight.

Michael Bisping is more than happy to be the one to welcome St-Pierre to 185. Interestingly, Bisping says that he trained with St-Pierre many moons ago and that “Rush” was able to take him down repeatedly in training, which is why Bisping feels St-Pierre wanted him for his return to the Octagon.

“He chose me because he thinks he can beat me,” Bisping said Wednesday on UFC Tonight (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I trained with him 11 years ago and he outwrestled me. Now back then I was a kickboxer from England, I didn’t know a double leg from a double decker bus. But every time we trained he’d take me down. He thinks I’m still that guy. He thinks I’m an easy opponent, an easy pick. He picked me to come out of retirement, moving up a weight class, it’s almost like he has nothing to lose, but if he moves up a weight class, he beats me, he becomes a legend.”

Bisping added that an initial fight with St-Pierre was being worked on since last year and had his hopes up for the match only to be let down as GSP and the UFC could not come to an agreement with a new UFC contract. That all changed when the UFC and St-Pierre recently came to terms with the promotions for his return.

“This fight offered to me last October, but the fight didn’t come to fruition,” Bisping said. “Because Georges I believe couldn’t come to terms with the UFC. So I tried to put this fight out of my mind, started to think about the next contenders in the UFC. Of course, I got a phone call about a week ago saying the fight is back on the table, Georges wants to fight you and it’s a big fight. Of course I said yes, Georges St-Pierre is a legendary fighter, he’s had one of the best careers, if not the best career, in the history of the sport.”

Who are you picking in the middleweight title fight between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre? Odds have St-Pierre as the favorite. Sound off your pick in the comment section!

This article first appeared on 3/2/2017.