Michael Bisping isn’t making it easy for fans to determine whether he really does or doesn’t like Georges St-Pierre ahead of their fight at UFC 217 next month.
Speaking to TSN’s The MMA Show, the UFC middleweight champion started by saying how much he respects the Canadian.
“I’m just having fun,” Bisping said regarding his antics on the UFC 217 promotional tour in Canada last week.
“Listen, I like Georges. I like him and I respect him and I think he’s fantastic.”
“Look if you, I’m sure you got better things to do with your time, but over the years, when people used to me ‘What advice have you got for up and coming mixed martial artists?’ I always used to say ‘Emulate Georges St-Pierre.’ He’s a professional, he handles himself well and I’ve always said that.”
But things are never clear cut with Bisping and he went on to explain why he’s continued to trash talk St-Pierre at every given opportunity.
“We’re going to fight now so I’m not going to spend all the time leading up to the fight kissing his ass and saying how good he is,” Bisping said. “I’m going to do quite the opposite. I’m going to berate him and I’m going to try and make him doubt himself and make him believe that he shouldn’t be stepping into an Octagon with me. If I can do that, if I can even make him question himself a bit, then I’m going to do that.
“Confidence is a fighters best friends so that’s why when I fight with somebody I remind them of their losses and how they lost and if they got choked out or whatever… or that I’m the bigger guy and that I’m used to fighting bigger guys. Because he can sit up there at the press conference, but I know for a fact that when he’s in bed at night and he’s trying to get to sleep, he will think about these things because you can lie to everybody else, but you can’t lie to yourself–you can’t do it. He knows I’m the bigger guy and that I’m used to fighting bigger guys, so I’m trying to put this into his mind. Not because I don’t like Georges St-Pierre, but because I’m trying to win the fight. It’s the psychological warfare leading up the fight.”
As rational as that all sounds, Bisping then took the conversation in a different direction when podcast host Aaron Bronsteter asked why St-Pierre had asked the fight be delayed.
“Georges wanted more time before we fought because he wanted to do more sit ups, more press ups, more bicep curls, more protein shakes… or he wanted to get the steroids out of his system. I don’t know, you make your own mind up.”
“I heard a story [and] I was shocked when I heard it.
“I wont say it because I don’t want to throw the person I heard it from under a bus, but lets just say that I am wholly, wholly convinced that Georges used to take steroids. I say with conviction, but I’m not going to throw the guy who told me the story under the bus.”
Speaking to TSN’s The MMA Show, the UFC middleweight champion started by saying how much he respects the Canadian.
“I’m just having fun,” Bisping said regarding his antics on the UFC 217 promotional tour in Canada last week.
“Listen, I like Georges. I like him and I respect him and I think he’s fantastic.”
“Look if you, I’m sure you got better things to do with your time, but over the years, when people used to me ‘What advice have you got for up and coming mixed martial artists?’ I always used to say ‘Emulate Georges St-Pierre.’ He’s a professional, he handles himself well and I’ve always said that.”
But things are never clear cut with Bisping and he went on to explain why he’s continued to trash talk St-Pierre at every given opportunity.
“We’re going to fight now so I’m not going to spend all the time leading up to the fight kissing his ass and saying how good he is,” Bisping said. “I’m going to do quite the opposite. I’m going to berate him and I’m going to try and make him doubt himself and make him believe that he shouldn’t be stepping into an Octagon with me. If I can do that, if I can even make him question himself a bit, then I’m going to do that.
“Confidence is a fighters best friends so that’s why when I fight with somebody I remind them of their losses and how they lost and if they got choked out or whatever… or that I’m the bigger guy and that I’m used to fighting bigger guys. Because he can sit up there at the press conference, but I know for a fact that when he’s in bed at night and he’s trying to get to sleep, he will think about these things because you can lie to everybody else, but you can’t lie to yourself–you can’t do it. He knows I’m the bigger guy and that I’m used to fighting bigger guys, so I’m trying to put this into his mind. Not because I don’t like Georges St-Pierre, but because I’m trying to win the fight. It’s the psychological warfare leading up the fight.”
As rational as that all sounds, Bisping then took the conversation in a different direction when podcast host Aaron Bronsteter asked why St-Pierre had asked the fight be delayed.
“Georges wanted more time before we fought because he wanted to do more sit ups, more press ups, more bicep curls, more protein shakes… or he wanted to get the steroids out of his system. I don’t know, you make your own mind up.”
“I heard a story [and] I was shocked when I heard it.
“I wont say it because I don’t want to throw the person I heard it from under a bus, but lets just say that I am wholly, wholly convinced that Georges used to take steroids. I say with conviction, but I’m not going to throw the guy who told me the story under the bus.”
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