Luke Rockhold: Michael Bisping “b**ching out” from fighting top middleweights

Earlier this month at UFC 204, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping made his first successful title defense as he went to war with MMA legend Dan Henderson in a main event scrap in Manchester, England.

Bisping was dropped early in the fight, but weathered an early storm from Henderson that saw the champ dropped in both the first and second rounds. Bisping continued to out-work Henderson throughout the fight, ultimately earning himself a unanimous decision win to retain the middleweight strap.

In his post-fight Octagon speech, Bisping put former champs Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman on blast, in addition to top contenders Yoel Romero and Jacare Souza.

“Forgive my language…all you f**k heads in the rest of the division. Weidman, what the hell? You lost your last fight! I’ve got three victories since you got your ass kicked by Luke Rockhold. Rockhold, I knocked you out in three minutes buddy. Yoel Romero, you were suspended for steroids, shame on you! And Jacare, you just got beat by Yoel! All of you, win a fight, get off the couch, and let’s fucking do this!”

Now, Luke Rockhold, who Bisping defeated to win the title at UFC 199, has called out Bisping for allegedly ducking the middleweight’s top contenders. He spoke to Submission Radio:

“It just sounds like he’s bitching out from wanting to fight the top guys. I don’t know, he’s trying to run into any situation that seems like it’s going to be more favorable for him. You know, I always thought the guy was tougher than he seems to be putting off now. I mean, it’s easy to go fight when you’ve got nothing to lose. When you have something to lose, that shows your true manhood, and now he’s got something, now he’s running scared. So man up and fight the top dudes.”

Bisping has recently been linked to what could very well be the toughest test of his career, a showdown with former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre at UFC 206 in Toronto. While negotiations between St-Pierre and the UFC reportedly haven’t been going well, reports have continued to surface that both men were offered the fight.

Bisping himself acknowledged the reports today (Friday afternoon) when he took to Twitter to tell St-Pierre to sign the bout agreement.