Michael Bisping thinks Sean Strickland would be making a mistake if he sat out and waited for a title shot.
Robert Whittaker, who knocked out Ikram Aliskerov at UFC on ESPN 6, said he’s willing to fight Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) for a No. 1 contender spot, but Strickland is not on board.
Strickland rebounded from his title loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 with a unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa. Due to the close nature of his fight with Du Plessis – a fight he thought he won – Strickland refuses to face anyone but the champion in his next fight.
Bisping disagrees.
“You can’t sit around, you can’t feel so entitled,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “You have to go out there, stake your case, continue to apply your craft, get better with every single training camp. Make the statement that you are the uncrowned champion, and make a sh*t ton of dough while you’re doing it.”
Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) makes his first title defense against Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) in the UFC 305 main event Aug. 17 at RAC Arena in Perth (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Strickland has already faced both fighters – beating Adesanya to become champion at UFC 293 then losing his belt to Du Plessis. Du Plessis and Adesanya fight in less than a month, but Bisping says they may not be able to turn around as quickly as Strickland hopes.
“You do not want to wait on the sidelines,” Bisping said. “I mean, for example, let’s say Dricus beats Izzy. That’s a big if, but let’s just say he does. What if Dricus gets injured? What if that fight is so grueling, he tears a knee, he busts his eye up, he’s got a broken jaw. He’s coming back, but it’s going to be six to nine months. Is he still going to continue to wait on the sidelines?”
