With UFC 205 and UFC 207 being blockbuster cards headlined by Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey respectively, poor old UFC 206 in Toronto is looking pretty ragged in comparison. The card currently features Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson for the light heavyweight belt, and then … a whole lot of prelim quality matches. This fact hasn’t been missed by Canadian fans, who are not happy, especially considering Georges St. Pierre hasn’t made it onto the card due to contract negotiations.
But it may not be too late for UFC 206 to turn itself around. In fact, things may have just begun to fall into place. Michael Bisping just went on Twitter and said the UFC offered him the fight with Georges in Toronto and he had accepted.
@GeorgesStPierre, we all want more money. But let's go,sign the papers.Give the people of Toronto what they want, be a hero! Let's go champ!
— michael (@bisping) October 26, 2016
always down when it's been offered. I'm in SIGN THE PAPERS, let's go champ!
— michael (@bisping) October 26, 2016
I verbally agreed
— michael (@bisping) October 26, 2016
They've been negotiating this fight for the last few days. #letsgochamp https://t.co/lltcEaJ8zz
— michael (@bisping) October 26, 2016
The question here: are the UFC and Georges St. Pierre actually really close to coming to terms? Or is the UFC just formally offering both Bisping and St. Pierre the fight so GSP can’t continue to claim he’s a free agent because the UFC didn’t offer him a fight? We’d really like to believe things are close to being worked out, but our cynical spider senses are tingling a bit here and the whole situation feels like political maneuvering.
We’ll keep you posted though. And who knows … if Georges St Pierre won’t fight Michael Bisping at UFC 206 in Toronto, maybe Nick Diaz will.
*UPDATE* Dana White is denying everything:
Text from @danawhite: There is no Bisping vs. GSP fight in Toronto. I know Mike wants it, but it's not happening.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 26, 2016