Michael Bisping has called out former foe Anderson Silva and YouTube star Jake Paul for exhibition boxing matches in a joking message on his podcast.
The former UFC middleweight champion earned his shot at the belt by beating Silva in a brutal five-round contest back in 2016, and made the tongue-in-cheek claim that would be willing to offer his old rival a rematch. He has also made another call out to Paul, with whom he has shared a back-and-forth for most of this year.
Bisping is essentially unable to be sanctioned for a legitimate boxing match due to the revelation that he fought his entire run as UFC champion with one eye. His inability to get sanctioned cost him a mega-money deal to face Paul in a professional fight, but an exhibition could be a solution.
After watching Silva dominate Bruno Machado in an exhibition fight in Dubai over the weekend, Bisping had the suggestion floated to him by co-host Anthony Smith on the show. "Michael Bisping needs to come out of retirement to go on some exhibition boxing tour," Smith said.
"Why don't you? Every time Anderson fights and wins I always think 'why the f*** is Michael not doing this? You can still fight, I think most people that retire it's like 'that guy needs to be done', I never felt like that [with Bisping]. You could go and box, beat some good guys, make some good f***ing money, it'd be a lot of goddamn fun."
Bisping appeared to like the idea, and laid the gauntlet down to his two rivals Paul and Silva. "Anderson Silva, if you want to have an exhibition boxing match, let's go," he declared. "Jake Paul, if you want to have an exhibition boxing match, let's go. I saw the highlights, Anderson looked fantastic."
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The former middleweight champion was impressed by his fellow ex-title holder, who was unable to stop Machado, but dropped him in a dominant showing. No winner was declared in the bout due to the exhibition rules, but public consensus was that it was Silva's third victory since moving back to boxing following his UFC release in 2020.
"I know he struggled at the end of the UFC," Bisping added. "But he certainly looks invigorated, he looks like a young man. He took a shot, his chin was always great, and dropped him with a right hook; did the old shoe shine and came over the top... He looks 21."
Bisping and Silva's violent 2016 fight was considered one of the best in either man's career. The Brit went down to a knee in the third round that Silva felt was enough to win him the fight, but the buzzer sounded and his celebrations were cut short as the bout continued.
However, it seems more likely now that Silva will face Paul as opposed to rematching Bisping in a boxing ring. The YouTube star declared that he could beat Silva and Floyd Mayweather, who headlined Saturday's card, in one night. He also shared a meme mocking the Brazilian's famous 'Spider' nickname.
