Since Georges St-Pierre stepped away from mixed martial arts in 2013, Michael Bisping has fought eight times, beating Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson along his journey to becoming the UFC’s middleweight champion.
Despite Bisping’s success and St-Pierre’s layoff, the Canadian is listed as the early favourite for their scheduled 185-pound title bout, which was announced Wednesday.
Opening odds have St-Pierre as the slight –130 favourite over Bisping who sits at even money.
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This matchup is intriguing on many levels. Will St-Pierre be the same fighter who successfully defended his welterweight title nine consecutive times? Will he be better? Will he show a diminished skill set?
How will the Canadian superstar look competing in the middleweight division for the first time in his career?
Two of St-Pierre’s biggest strengths were his ability to keep opponents at the end of his jab and take them down almost at will. That won’t be so simple against Bisping, who will have a reach advantage and boasts outstanding takedown defence.
This bout is expected to take place sometime in the second half of 2017 although there is no specific date the organization is targeting.
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