THURSDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/3: Bisping suddenly cannot fight Souza or anyone on short notice (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)

By Mike Hiscoe, MMATorch contributor

Michael Bisping on FS1's UFC Tonight

Michael Bisping continues to send mixed signals regarding his immediate fighting future.

A week after claiming that he had been approached to take a fight with Georges St-Pierre, Bisping went of UFC Tonight on Wednesday to explain why he cannot take a fight with the newly available Jacare Souza.

“I’ve got a busted orbital, I’m getting injections in my knee,” Bisping said on the FS1 broadcast.

Bisping chose to get ahead of any doubters asserting that he’s ducking Jacare or anyone else. “I’ve never ducked anybody in my life,” he said. “Next week, Yoel and Weidman are fighting. Whoever wins, either that guy, or Jacare, will be my next fight, make no mistake. But I’m not doing it in a few weeks.”

The confusion comes in when you consider the fact that very recently, Bisping was lobbying hard for a fight with GSP. He came prepared with a rebuttal for that criticism. “Now I know what everyone at home is going to say: ‘Didn’t you call out GSP a couple weeks ago?’ Yes, I did, but really, think about this, that was a massive payday, roughly $3-4 million I would have earned from that fight,” he said. “Against Jacare, I’m going to get around about a quarter.”

So it looks like Bisping isn’t interested in fighting any of the available contenders anytime soon, unless GSP or maybe Nick Diaz suddenly become available, in which case he will overlook the injuries for the payday.

Hiscoe’s Analysis: Bisping’s orbital can’t be that broken if he was actually willing to fight GSP in a month. Bisping is going to have his doubters no matter what he says until he actually gets in the cage with someone most consider a top contender. Bisping could easily agree to fight Jacare in January or February when he should be all healed up, but I think he’s going to put off signing on for a fight as long as he possibly can just in case a deal can be made for GSP. I understand that Bisping wants to make his money while he can, but it’s a shame to have a guy like Jacare, who’s not getting any younger either, sitting on the shelf with no one to fight. Let’s hope fights for both men against each other or against others, gets made soon.

THURSDAY NOTEBOOK…

-To listen to the today’s UFC 205 conference call featuring Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez, click here.

-WWE executive Stephanie McMahon was caught by TMZSports.com and was coy when asked about potentially bringing in Ronda Rousey once her fighting career is over. McMahon responded “I’m certainly going to try, let’s leave it at that,” and laughed to herself when pressed on whether WWE would go after Rousey.

-Brock Lesnar’s lawyers have requested a continuance for his Nevada Athletic Commission disciplinary hearing according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The hearing was set for Nov. 10 and has been moved to Dec. 15 while Lesnar’s camp continues to test a foot cream.

-The Marloes Coenen vs. Talita Nogueira fight on tomorrow’s Bellator show is off after Nogueira came in 5.5 lbs overweight and Coenen declined to proceed with the fight. (SOURCE)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Check out Tony Ferguson vs. Edson Barboza ahead of this weekend’s Fight Night from Mexico City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YXuYfTa340

NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/2: Bisping now has a top ranked Middleweight contender looking for a title fight soon (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)


(MMATorch’s Daily News Digest features the top story of the day with added analysis, plus smaller tidbits in the News Notes section. Mike Hiscoe, who writes the News Digest Sundays through Thursdays, has a background in film criticism and previously wrote for the DVD Town and Movie Metropolis websites. His passion for Mixed Martial Arts goes back to 2005, but it was in the promotion for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie that he really got hooked.”This is my house, I build it,” is still among the all-time great UFC promos. You can follow Mike on social media under the tag @mikehiscoe. He now provides his experienced writing and perspective on live MMA events for MMATorch.)

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