Michael Bisping Says GSP’s Not A Real Fighter

UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping is preparing to defend the title against former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre at a yet to be named UFC event.

It will be the first fight for GSP in over three years and the middleweight champion feels like he's not competing against a real fighter. 

“There’s a reason why he stepped away from the sport.,” said Bisping on The Countdown. “There’s a reason why. Maybe he wasn’t enjoying it too much. I don’t think Georges is a real fighter. He’s an athlete and he’s a martial artist. I don’t think he’s a fighter and that’s why he stepped away from the sport. You gotta have both. You need a combination of it all. You need both. You’ve got to be athletic, of course. You’ve got to have the technique of a martial artist. But you’ve gotta have that will power and that heart of a fighter and a champion. And of course he’s got that to a certain degree, but there’s a reason why he stepped away. He said, ‘I’m stepping away because of steroids, until they bring in other testing.’ Well unfortunately, that was the only platform that we have. I knew people were taking steroids but quitting was never an option and joining them was never an option while still continuing to fight. So I think there was an element of truth to what Dana White said. He said he ‘doesn’t think [St-Pierre’s] heart’s in it.’ I don’t think it was. That’s why he stepped away. Now he’s bored, he wants the limelight again, he wants the attention, he wants to be around the circus. Of course, there’s a payday there as well, and again, he’s looking at me and he thinks he’s gonna walk in off his big hiatus, be the middleweight champ, make history, and look like a god. But of course, that ain’t gonna happen.”

Bisping has already defended his title once and that was a decision victory over Dan Henderson at UFC 204. The middleweight champion also believes that GSP doesn’t like to get hit.

“He doesn’t enjoy [getting hit]. Of course, nobody enjoys getting punched in the face. But there’s a part of me that f**king loves that. I love getting down and dirty and having a good tear up and a good scrap. . . I’m not trying to be such a tough guy because I’m not the only one. There’s many of us like that. The UFC is full of them. Georges isn’t one of those. He’s a tactician. And that’s all well and good but you see that look in their eyes when they get hit with a good one. It diminishes their soul a little bit,” says Bisping.

GSP hasn’t competed since earning a decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.