The UFC middleweight division continues to be a mess. The world's best 185-pound fighters have been stuck in neutral for over a year now with champion Michael Bisping in charge, and with his latest revelation, it sounds like it will be quite longer.
Bisping said earlier this week that Georges St-Pierre saying he can't fight until at least October was a "blessing in disguise" because he is still dealing with a knee injury that will keep him out of action until the fall.
"I will say this and I've said it before, it's a blessing in disguise cause I can't fight any time soon," Bisping said on his "Believe You Me" podcast. "I can't exercise at all at the moment. I can't train. My knee is giving me many, many problems. It was doing it in Thailand, it's still getting no better. I haven't trained since I've been in London cause I've been busy most days. I've flirted with some weights in the hotel gym, which is not very good shall we say. I haven't trained and it just isn't getting better. The back of my knee is incredibly tight. I can't actually straighten my left leg. I think that's because all the tendons and ligaments and muscles are super tight and that's why I can't straighten it. My surgeon said we had to work on stretching that but it just kind of got extenuated if you will and it's super tight. I can't even walk for like five minutes so I need to get back and start getting some treatment on that.
With Bisping on the shelf, UFC president Dana White said he's now looking to make an interim title fight for the division this summer, likely pitting No. 1 contender Yoel Romero (12-1) against Robert Whittaker (18-4).
"We're trying to put together that Bisping-Romero fight," White said via ESPN. "If [Bisping] can't fight this summer, we'll probably create an interim title between Romero and Robert Whittaker."
Romero has been literally begging for his chance to fight Bisping since knocking out former champ Chris Weidman with a vicious knee at UFC 205 last November. But on Thursday, Romero had a quick change on tune on Twitter, saying "The page on Bisping has been turned."
Whittaker is coming off a vicious knockout of his own when he stopped another top contender at 185 in Jacare Souza last month.
It's a stark contrast from what was expected to take place in this division this year. Fans were hyped up to see the return of St-Pierre taking on Bisping for the belt, but that quickly changed once GSP said he still needed time. Then, they were expecting to get Bisping-Romero, but now that's probably off the board.
Here's to hoping we actually get Romero-Whittaker this summer because the 185-pound division deserves better than what it's been getting.
