Michael Bisping Says ‘Zero Percent’ Chance He Fights Vitor Belfort at UFC London
Michael Bisping still hasn’t decided on whether or not he will fight one more time before calling it a career but if he does compete again, Vitor Belfort will not be his opponent.
This past weekend, Belfort was scheduled for a retirement fight of his own against Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night from St. Louis but the matchup was scrapped after the former “Ultimate Fighter” finalist was pulled from the card due to a weight cutting mishap that ended with him in the hospital.
Belfort was offered alternate opponents for that card and UFC 220 in Boston but he turned both down. Instead, Belfort suggested that his final fight should come against Bisping, who he previously defeated back in 2013 by knockout.
On Tuesday, Belfort said he had been offered and accepted the matchup with Bisping at UFC Fight Night in London in March but now the former middleweight champion has answered the call out with a resounding no.
“I’m not fighting Vitor Belfort in London. 100-percent chance. 100-percent I’m not fighting him. Zero percent chance,” Bisping said on his “Believe You Me Podcast”.
“So here’s the thing, I do not like Vitor Belfort. People looking at this video they’re probably saying look at his eye, he looks a f–king mess. And it is part of the reason I never wanted to do a video podcast before was because my eye is a f–king mess and it was Vitor Belfort that did it and he was roided out of his mind. He’s a known drug cheat. I don’t like the guy. I find him to be a hypocrite. It’s his last fight, he’s probably going to juice like crazy again anyway cause who gives a f–k. I failed, so what? Retired, gone, done.”
Bisping suffered a severe eye injury as a result of that knockout loss to Belfort and it nearly ended his career. Belfort was a regular user of testosterone replacement therapy at the time — a practice that was later banned — and Bisping has held a grudge ever since thanks to a permanent condition suffered in his eye thanks to that knockout.
Add to that, Bisping says that if he returns for his final fight, he wants to face a respectful opponent so he can enjoy the moment rather than getting into a verbal war ahead of his last trip to the UFC Octagon.
“The main reason is as I say, I don’t like the guy and I wouldn’t say I have negative feelings towards him if I’m honest, I just don’t want to be associated with him. I know if we were to fight, it would turn into a typical Michael Bisping performance with trash talk and all this type of thing, the weigh-ins, the press conference, and all that stuff and I’d be talking s–t and I don’t want to do that,” Bisping explained. “If I fight in London, it’s my last ever fight. I want to handle myself the way I handled myself the majority of the time. I don’t want it to be some bitter rivalry with a guy that’s caused me lasting disfigurement if you will and that I’m emotionally charged up against.
“I’d want to go out there, put my best foot forward, enjoy the moment. Fight somebody that I respect, fight somebody that’s going to be a challenge but as I say that I have a lot of respect for and we can do it in a classy way. That’s not the way I want to be remembered. I don’t want to be remembered for being a d–k. Vitor Belfort would bring out that side of my personality.”
As of now, Bisping still hasn’t decided whether or not he will return for one more fight much less if he’s actually going to compete in London in March.
