Watch the extended preview above just released for UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre. Hear from GSP, who talks about coming back better than ever. Plus, Michael Bisping discusses his prowess as champion and why GSP is making a mistake.
Just as they did a week ago in Las Vegas, UFC 217 headliners Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre got a little testy with each other Friday morning as they faced off in Toronto. But as UFC President Dana White separated the two after their latest press conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame, the combatants smiled, content in the fact that they’ll have the chance to punch each other at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4.
“I can tell I’m getting to you Georges,” said Bisping during the event, drawing a grin from the former welterweight champion, who is making his first start since November 2013.
“All this is a mind game and I’m used to that,” St-Pierre said. “They all come with the same song. I’ll do my talking in the fight. I’ll beat him in the Octagon, that’s where it’s important.”
But is Bisping getting under the Montrealer’s skin?
“It’s not even annoying,” said GSP. “It’s amusing.”
Enjoying his multiple roles as the A-side, the middleweight champion and the villain, Bisping treated the media gathering as his own personal stage, taking jabs at his opponent and Canadian fans, but also revealing that it’s all fun and games as well.
“I respect Georges, I know it’s gonna be a tough fight, but I’m having fun with this,” said the Brit, who will be making the second defense of the title he took from Luke Rockhold in 2016. And he knows that to be successful, it’s imperative that he not allow St-Pierre to implement his ground game, something he’s been working on in camp while doing his best to goad the challenger into a standup fight next month.
“When you wrestle, you’re trying to hide from fighting,” he said to St-Pierre, noting that despite the addition of Freddie Roach to GSP’s camp, he doesn’t believe the 36-year-old will deviate from an established plan of attack.
“You can’t reinvent the wheel,” Bisping said. “Jab, jab double leg, bore everyone to sleep. I’m going to try to knock him out.”
St-Pierre was unmoved by such talk.
“He (Bisping) has got a lot more things to worry about then I do about him,” he said. “I’ve got a lot more weapons than he does. He’s bigger, that’s it.”
The Canadian star even promised a knockout of his own, prompting the champion to ask his challenger when his last knockout was.
St-Pierre had a quick response.
“He (Bisping) is the next one.”
