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Neither Michael Bisping nor Tyron Woodley have their next UFC title defense set up, and if you listen to the two reigning champions, it appears they are dead serious about wanting to fight each other.
Just days after challenging each other to a 180-pound catchweight contest via Instagram, Woodley called into Bisping's SiriusXM show The Countdown and things got a little heated, albeit in a half-joking manner.
"Don't believe everything that people say to you, Tyron, because people kiss the ass when you're a world champion," Bisping said. "But I've been around long enough to know that it's all bullsh*t, so don't believe everything that all your little team, all your little ‘yes men.' Everything they're telling you, it ain't true, because I'll do to you what f*cking Nate Marquardt did to you and beat the f*ck out of you, buddy."
Woodley, the UFC welterweight champion, is expected to defend his belt in a rematch against Stephen Thompson next after the two fought to a controversial majority draw at UFC 205.
Regardless, Woodley didn't back down from Bisping's threats. "T-Wood" argued on Thursday that he would be the faster and stronger fighter in any hypothetical champion vs. champion bout, and stated that he couldn't understand why Bisping would actually want a "suicide fight" like one against him.
"Because it's an easy fight for me," Bisping responded. "You're an easy fight."
Bisping is currently the reigning UFC middleweight champion. A longtime UFC veteran, Bisping captured the title in June with a stunning first-round knockout over Luke Rockhold, then defended it this past October with a close victory over Dan Henderson.
On his Thursday show, Bisping challenged Woodley to name a single viable path to victory against him if the two were to meet. He then said that he hoped Woodley didn't fight like he fought against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 183, because that performance put Bisping to sleep.
"Do the math. Bisping, do the math," Woodley retorted. "How many fights have you had in the UFC and how many wins? I'm the UFC champion with six or seven wins. I'm just smarter. I fight tougher guys and I actually beat them. You fight the tougher guys and lose to them. Eventually, as long as you kept up with the sport, you were eventually going to fight for a world title and get lucky. We all knew that. It's a numbers game."
Woodley then told Bisping to call his manager and set up the fight if he was so confident in his chances.
"I just [talked to] my manager," Bisping said. "We said we'd do it, and he said, ‘you don't want that really because no one gives a sh*t about Tyron, because the way he fights is super boring,' and he said no one really wants it. But screw it, if you want to do it, I'm in."
Bisping added that it sounded like Woodley was just scared of Thompson and trying to duck a rematch with the karate stylist, to which Woodley responded by saying that even Bisping knew "Wonderboy" lost at UFC 205.
Woodley also noted that regardless of the fact that many fight fans believe the attempts to set up a champion vs. champion fight between he and Bisping are fake, that he and Bisping are absolutely serious about their intentions.
"Listen man, 100-percent, I'm down. Just let them know," Bisping responded. "Let them know. Tell him, send the text to Dana (White) saying, ‘yo, we were serious about that.' I'll do the same thing right now."