Michael Bisping doesn’t want to fight Luke Rockhold or Chris Weidman

This past weekend, Michael Bisping captured the UFC middleweight championship after nearly a decade in the promotion. Bisping, who stepped into the fight on just two weeks notice, went out and knocked out Luke Rockhold in the very first round of their main event scrap.

Prior to the fight, Bisping stated that when he won the championship, he would let Chris Weidman be his first title defense. Now that he is the champion, he believes Weidman and Rockhold should fight to determine who he will defend his title against.

He spoke to ESPN:

“As of right now, Luke Rockhold will not be my first defense. That’s a fact. I had to go away and beat three more guys before I got a second shot at Luke. Certainly, after his behavior on Saturday, he should have to go away and do the same. He wasn’t even close. And it’s not like Luke beat me, then I beat Luke, so therefore we have to go again right away. The first fight was two years ago. Neither of us were champion then. He became champion, good for him. And I just knocked him out in the first round. Luke’s an incredible fighter. He probably has better technical skill than I do. He’s going to go away and do it the old-fashioned way like I had to.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not going to give you a name. There is someone I’ve got my eye on, but ultimately it’s down to the UFC. I do get a say since I’m the champion, so that’s nice. But I’ve never turned down an opponent and I certainly don’t intend to start as a champion. We’ll see what happens. There’s plenty of viable contenders. Defending the title in the U.K. is certainly something I’d love to do, and I’ve already made it clear to Dana White that I would like to do that.”

While Bisping wouldn’t name names, we can speculate as to who the potential contender is. Dan Henderson, who brutally knocked out Bisping back in 2009, and knocked out Hector Lombard on the same card Bisping knocked out Rockhold, reportedly wants a rematch with Bisping.

Could we see Henderson vs. Bisping II?

Video | Rafael dos Anjos

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