Bisping should face Whittaker (Photo: Reproduction Facebook/UFC)
Before the duel between Yoel romero e Robert whittaker, the UFC had reserved the coaching spots for the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter for Romero and Michael Bisping, if the Cuban passed by the New Zealander. In his official podcast, “Believe You Me”, Bisping spoke about the offer made to face Romero first as TUF 26 coach and then defend his belt against the Cuban at the end of the year.
“Dana was forcing me to give an answer about whether or not I was going to coach The Ultimate Fighter against the winner of Whittaker vs. Romero. And I wasn't giving him an answer because I was still waiting to find out if the fight with GSP would happen. If I agreed to do TUF, then I would throw the GSP issue out the window. That's why it was taking me a while to respond. At International Fight Week, I was there and Dana and I talked. I had a few meetings with Dana and the main producer of the reality show, and we came to an agreement. We sat down, negotiated, discussed money and other things. And I said, “Yes. All good". We reached an agreement. But the problem was – on Saturday (the day of UFC 213), by the way – he said, “We start filming on Tuesday,” said Bisping, who said Whittaker demanded a lot of money to do the reality show.
"Yoel romero knew everything, and he agreed to do it. Yoel agreed. But they didn't speak to Whittaker. And Dana even told me, “Don’t mention anything yet because we haven’t talked to Whittaker about it.” I speak to Dana on Sunday (after UFC 213), and Whittaker wanted “X, Y and Z” to do the reality show, and the UFC wasn't prepared to give him that. In the next minute, Justin gaethje and Eddie Alvarez are the coaches. And I didn't even get a phone call. Dana told me that (Whittaker) asked for X, Y and Z. And I said, “Dana, what was your answer.” And he: “Have a safe flight back to Australia,” revealed Bisping.
The Brit also responded to Romero's provocations, who produced a video in which he walks through the streets of Havana (Cuba) and steps on the flag of Great Britain, repeating the gesture of Bisping himself, who had torn up the Cuban flag shortly after the end of UFC 213 in front of the “Soldier of God” himself.
“That’s typical of Romero. He lost the fight that would have given him a title shot. That simple. But he's a trickster, he needs to find a way to get ahead of the others. But it's incredible. I love that. The angry people, him burning a photo of me, I love it all. He managed to get several Cubans cursing me and saluting him. Great,” he commented.
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