Morning Report: Michael Bisping ‘probably retired’ but says if Nick Diaz met him at 195 pounds he’s ‘down’ for fight

We may have seen the last of Michael Bisping.

While Brad Tavares is set on being Bisping’s retirement fight, it appears that the future UFC Hall of Famer has other ideas. On the most recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, Bisping addressed rumors of a potential fight between him and Nick Diaz as Bisping’s final bout, saying they are completely untrue and that he is “probably retired” anyway, he just hasn’t officially said it.

“No, I’m not fighting Nick Diaz at all,” said Bisping. “It’s total bulls**t. I haven’t spoken to the UFC about anything. They haven’t come to me. I’m probably retired, I just haven’t made it official.

“It’s bulls**t. I haven’t heard a single thing. The UFC haven’t reached out, management haven’t reached out, no one has said anything. As I said, I haven’t made my mind up completely but I’m very, very close to retirement.”

Bisping last fought in November when he stepped in on short notice against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai, losing by first-round KO. Afterwards he suggested that he’d like to fight one more time before hanging up the gloves, preferably when the UFC returned to London. A bout on that card never materialized though and now Bipsing says unless something that piques his interest comes along soon, he is likely done with his career.

“I’m probably retired,” said Bisping. “I know I’m driving everyone crazy with this. Certainly reporters ask me all the time but I don’t know. If something comes along, great but I need to make my mind up and make that official and move on with the rest of my life or get a fight. I was supposed to fight in London, it never happened. Book me a fight and let’s go. If not, f**k it, let’s move on.“

A Diaz fight, it appears, is one that would interest Bisping though. The former middleweight champion says that he has a lot of respect for the Stockton product and would be willing to forego retirement for a bout with Diaz, with one caveat.

“Here’s the thing, Nick Diaz is one of the legends of the sport,” said Bisping. “The guy is one of the original, old-school fighters and what I like about Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz [is that] they’re real fighters. They are real fighters and they come to fight every time. They’re always entertaining and they say a lot of controversial s**t but they’re real fighters. They’re not trying to pretend to be something. They don’t do MMA because they think it’s cool. They’re not jumping on the bandwagon. It’s who they are. They are f**king fighters, they’ll throw down at a moment’s notice, in the octagon or on the street. They are fighters, simple as that and that’s what I respect about them.

“Nick Diaz is someone that I definitely respect and if there was a possibility of that fight, then for sure I would accept it. People would want to see that. The only issue is that if I do fight [again] I want it at 205 [pounds] and I don’t think Nick would do 205. Making 185 for the last 10 years has been so hard. Making 185 is not an easy task, not an easy task at all, so if I’m going to fight one more time, it’s gonna be at light heavyweight. Or I’d do a catchweight, maybe at 195 or whatever but making 185 for me is too hard. So if Nick would be willing to come up, I’ll do it. I’ll accept. I’m down. I’m in. Sign me up.”

Diaz has not fought since a No Contest against Anderson Silva at UFC 183, a bout he lost but was then overturned after Silva failed a drug test fot drostanolone and Diaz tested positive for marijuana. He recently was cleared to return to competition after a resolving an issue with USADA over a whereabouts violation last year, though he has made no suggestion that he intends to return to fighting. If Diaz does want to come back though, Bisping officially extended the invitation to be the one to greet him.

“Nick Diaz, if you’re listening and you want to fight again, give me a shout, pal, because I’m down. If you’re willing eat some food and put some pounds on, then let’s do this my brother.