With UFC 217 only a month away, the full scale promotional push is about to begin in earnest and UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping just threw some fuel on the fire.

This Friday, Bisping and his UFC 217 opponent Georges St-Pierre will take part in a press conference in Las Vegas to hype up what appears to be the biggest pay-per-view of the year. Of course, this event brings to mind the last time Bisping and St-Pierre were at a Las Vegas presser together, their infamous introductory presser at which St-Pierre suggested the erratic Bisping might still be intoxicated. It was a story of interest at the time but as the fight was repeatedly delayed and then supposedly canceled, people moved on from the incident.

But with another press conference looming, Bisping seems intent on making this one just as controversial. Speaking on his Believe You Me podcast recently, Bisping recounted the press conference tale and suggested that the issues with making the fight happen promptly could have been the result of St-Pierre dragging his feet so as to avoid getting caught for steroid usage.

“I’d had a heavy night before and Georges was taking pleasure in [mocking me for my behavior]. So f**king what Georges. I’m 38 years old and I’m in Las Vegas. If you’re man enough to fight me anytime soon, I won’t be drinking. When I’m training for a fight I’m very, very dedicated but of course, I’m not training for a fight because I don’t know whether it’s because Georges needs to clear the steroids out of his system before he enters the USADA testing pool. I don’t know what the reason is but that is definitely a potentially valid reason because you’ve got to get tested for six months before you come back and he did his best to delay it so maybe that was why.”

Bisping has been one of the most vocal opponents of PED usage in MMA for some time but it is somewhat surprising to see him intimate such usage against St-Pierre who lobbied the UFC for more advanced drug testing long before USADA was involved in the sport. Of course, St-Pierre also faced some accusations of PED usage during his tenure as UFC welterweight champion though nothing of any substance was ever brought to bear. Also, when St-Pierre announced last year that he was ready to come out of retirement, he immediately enrolled in the USADA testing program to avoid any potential Brock Lesnar-esque situations. This information doesn’t exactly seem to satisfy Bisping though who went on to question how often St-Pierre is being tested ahead of their bout.

“I’ve been tested twice in this training camp, and I guess they’re gonna give up because they never get a sniff of anything with me. Never. And it costs a lot of money to send those agents out here. I’ll probably get another busy talk to throughout the training camp [but] I want to know how many time are they testing Georges St-Pierre?”

Per the USADA website, St-Pierre has been tested 10 times since entering the USADA testing pool last August; he was tested four times in the third quarter of 2016, one time in each the first and second quarters of this year, and four times in third quarter of this year. For reference, Bisping has also been tested 10 times over approximately the same period of time, and six times so far this year. Without the benefit of this knowledge though, Bisping instead implored USADA to more heavily pursue St-Pierre in an effort to maintain the integrity of their fight.

“I was training with someone recently who shall remain nameless and he was telling me that he was on something. He’s not part of my regular team but I couldn’t help but notice the massive amount of muscle that this person had and he told me, he was very frank about it. . . I’m very naive when it comes to steroids but he said it’s in and out your system in one day. One day! Holy s**t! I didn’t even know such things existed, I really didn’t. That’s how naive I’m am and that’s what all those motherf**kers are taking, I’m telling you.

“So USADA, if you’re listening, get your ass up to Canada and test Georges. Hide out in his apartment block and get the motherf**ker on the way to the gym.”

Michael Bisping defends his UFC middleweight championship against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 on Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden.

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MUST-READ STORIES

155. Conor McGregor praised Max Holloway, says he’s open to a fight at lightweight.

Upset. Tony Ferguson was upset Demetrious Johnson won’t be headlining UFC 216.

Beef. Kevin Lee says Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t want hard fights.

Shelby. Dominick Cruz explains why he’s fighting Jimmie Rivera.

No Time. Volkan Oezdemir predicts two minute KO of Daniel Cormier.

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VIDEO STEW

Fun video showing where KOs happen in the UFC.

DJ on TMZ.

McMahon really wants to be in the Rousey business.

Anatomy of a Fighter on No Time.

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LISTEN UP

The MMA Circus. McGregor, Rumble, and Werdum-Ferguson are discussed.

Obviously Fight Talk. Luke joins to talk McGregor, Johny Hendricks, and Rousey.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Do it, Bellator.

Cyborg coming in hot.

Paulie’s continued beef with anyone involved in MMA.

PMP doesn’t seem all that interested in Valhalla.

But he is into this one.

Humble.

Perry calling out everyone.

Ross ain’t done yet.

Kind words.

Johny has begun the new era.

Congrats!

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Liam McGeary (12-2) vs. Bubba McDaniel (28-10); Bellator 185, Oct. 20.

Karl Moore (8-1) vs. Mauro Cerilli (10-2); Cage Warriors, Nov. 25.

Max Holloway (18-3) vs. Frankie Edgar (22-5-1); UFC 218, Dec. 2.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

UFC 218 is quickly shaping up to be the hardcore MMA fans favorite event of the year. Holloway-Edgar, Overeem-Ngannou, Cejudo-Pettis, and Gaethje-Alvarez are all heaters. My one complaint is that every single one of those fights should be 5 rounders, especially since the three non-title fights all have title implications.

Anyway, that’s all for today folks. Until tomorrow, be easy.

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EXIT POLL

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