Middleweight champion Michael Bisping needs to focus on the contenders in his division and forget about a fight with welterweight champion Tyron Woodley for the time being.
The pair were filmed talking and appeared to agree on a catch-weight bout of 180 lbs later this year. There is nothing wrong with the match-up, but it is not the right time for it for either fighter.
A video posted by Mikebisping (@mikebisping) on
After sensationally knocking-out Luke Rockhold to claim the middleweight title in 2016, Bisping defended his title beating Dan Henderson via decision in Manchester. Henderson, a legend in the sport, retired after the fight aged 46.
This new era of fighters requesting "super-fights" comes off the back of Conor McGregor's recent contests against Nate Diaz at welterweight (x2) and Eddie Alvarez at lightweight.
All three of those fights did huge numbers on PPV and appears to be the new fad amongst the UFC roster. Given the recent sale of the company to WME-IMG, there could well be a push from behind the scenes to make these types of fights more common now given their recent monetary success.
In reality, Bisping should face Rockhold for a third time to give a definitive conclusion to their rivalry. Yoel Romero is also waiting in the wings for his title shot after stopping former champion Chris Weidmann at UFC 205.
Woodley has had only one title defence to his name since he claimed the belt in a bout against Robbie Lawlor last July.
His fight with Stephen Thompson finished a majority draw and the pair need to do battle again before Woodley can start calling out other fighters in other divisions.
The new welterweight champion only had the belt a couple of minutes when he went looking for a super fight with either George St-Pierre or Nick Diaz dismissing Stephen Thompson early on.
Woodley has previously called out Conor McGregor saying: "If Conor wants it, he can get it. He knows how to get in touch with Dana, he knows how to get the contracts set. He really don't want to fight. I'm not saying he should want to fight, because I'm not a little dude. I ain't Nate Diaz."
He later added: "We can do it in Ireland; Dublin, we can do it in the back of Whitecastle, I don't care."
Demian Maia is waiting impatiently for his crack at the champion also, having rattled off six straight wins with Gunnar Nelson, Matt Brown and Carlos Condit among those he has beaten.
Bisping and Woodley could be an interesting scrap down the line, but for the time being, they both have a list of contenders to vanquish first.
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