Michael Bisping Targets Nick Diaz, Former UFC Champ Has Cars Set On Fire, UFC 205 Lineup Complete
- A total of 13 current or former UFC champions – along with previous title contenders – will step foot inside the Octagon at UFC 205. And officials have placed them throughout the stacked card. The event takes place November 12 from New York City and Madison Square Garden, as Conor McGregor challenges Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title. The welterweight belt and strawweight championship will also be on the line that evening.
Tyron Woodley defends his 170-pound championship vs. No. 1 contender Stephen Thompson, while unbeaten Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Former champions Chris Weidman, Frankie Edgar and Rashad Evans are also slated for action.
This marks the first UFC event to be held in MSG since the state passed a bill legalizing MMA.
Below is the updated fight card:
MAIN CARD (PPV/10 p.m. ET)
UFC Lightweight Championship
Eddie Alvarez (c) vs. Conor McGregor
UFC Welterweight Championship
Tyron Woodley (c) vs. Stephen Thompson
UFC Strawweight Championship
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (c) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
*Middleweight: Chris Weidman vs. Yoel Romero
*Welterweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
*Female Bantamweight: Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1/8 p.m. ET)
*Featherweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
*Lightweight: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson
*Middleweight: Tim Kennedy vs. Rashad Evans
*Welterweight: Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/6:30 p.m. ET)
*Lightweight: Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller
*Middleweight: Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
*Female Bantamweight: Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Michael Bisping doesn't seem interested in defending his middleweight title against top 185-pound contenders. Instead, after finding out he will not be facing Georges St-Pierre at UFC 206 this December, "The Count" called out another inactive fighter.
"If it's not 'GSP,' I don't mind being on the card against somebody else, and Nick Diaz would be somebody else that moves the needle," Bisping said on his SiriusXM show, "The Countdown," (thanks to MMAjunkie for transcribing). "Now, again, I know I'm going to open myself to criticism saying that, but there's been talk of us having a fight before. His last fight was against Anderson Silva, so he's fought at 185, and if Nick Diaz wants to do it, I'll fight Nick Diaz."
Bisping picked up his 30th career win recently when he defended the belt vs. Dan Henderson in England. He called out St-Pierre earlier this week on social media, saying he had already verbally agreed to the fight. GSP later confirmed that he has talked with the UFC about returning, but would not be fighting in December.
- Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was left surprised and devastated when three cars were set on fire in his Milwaukee driveway late Thursday night. "Showtime" is scheduled to meet Max Holloway in a key featherweight contest later this year.