Michael Bisping says he will refuse to defend his title against Yoel Romero

UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is coming off of a hard-fought decision victory over bitter rival Dan Henderson, which “The Count” earned in the main event of UFC 204 last month in Manchester, England.

Bisping was hoping to make a quick turnaround and fight at UFC 206 this December in Toronto against former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, however, “Rush” was not able to reach a deal with the new UFC ownership group and the fight unfortunately fell through.

With that said, “The Count” is now waiting his next assignment from UFC officials. Bisping could very well fight the winner of next weekend’s key middleweight tilt between former champ Chris Weidman and surging contender Yoel Romero.

However, Bisping recently told SuriusXM that he would refuse to fight Romero if Yoel is to defeat Weidman at UFC 205 in New York. Michael gave the following explanation for why he wouldn’t fight Romero next:

“If Yoel beats Chris, I honestly don’t think I’ll fight Yoel, because he tested positive for steroids,” said Bisping earlier this week on SuriusXM Rush. “I read an article recently that said that it takes years for the advantages of taking steroids to get out of your system. Just because you don’t test positive anymore doesn’t mean you’ll lose all the extra muscle and things like that that you were able to achieve. So I think he needs longer, I really do. I don’t see why he should be rewarded. If Weidman wins, that’s the fight I want. Me and Weidman, for a little while now, I’d say probably the last year, have gone back and forth, back and forth, talking sh*t, and yeah, it’s a fight that interests me, 100 percent.”

There are plenty of viable contenders for Michael Bisping’s UFC middleweight title. Who would you like see “The Count” fight in his next attempted title defense? Sound off PENN Nation!