Rockhold to Bisping: Put your money where your mouth is, kid

MACAU – Luke Rockhold (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has an interesting proposal for Michael Bisping. (24-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) If “The Count” wins on Saturday night, Rockhold would be happy to fight him next. And if Bisping can simply last five minutes, he can have Rockhold’s paycheck.

“I’ve got a wager,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie. “Bisping is grossly overpaid, comparably to where we are. So, I bet Michael Bisping, if I don’t finish you in the first round, you can have my purse. But if I do finish you in the first round, you give me your purse. So if I don’t finish you in the first round, whether I beat you in a decision or what, you get both of our purses. But if I do finish you in the first round, we switch purses, and I get yours.

“Let’s see if you’ve got some balls, kid. Bring it.”

There is on caveat, of course. Bisping first needs to defeat Cung Le in the headlining bout of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 48 event, which takes place Saturday at The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena and airs on UFC Fight Pass. But if he does, Rockhold is ready to settle a rivalry that dates back to 2012, when Bisping called himself the “unofficial Strikeforce champion” as a way of suggesting he had gotten the better of the then-Strikeforce middleweight title holder in a sparring session.

The wager, of course, would be strictly an arrangement between the two fighters, as it’s highly likely that neither the UFC nor any athletic commission would sponsor such a deal.

Bisping’s most recent published payday was a December 2011 victory over Jason “Mayhem” Miller at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. At that card, Bisping earned $425,000, a sum that included a $250,000 base pay and $175,000 win bonus.

He’s since fought five more times, earning wins over Alan Belcher and Brian Stann but falling short against Tim Kennedy, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.

Meanwhile, Rockhold’s most recent published pay was $80,000, which he earned with a January win over Costas Philippou at UFC Fight Night 35. That sum included $40,000 to show and $40,000 to win. He’s since picked up an April win over Tim Boetsch.

So if Bisping proves victorious, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva’s job might be made quite easy. After all, Rockhold will be cageside, and if Bisping wins, there’s a wager awaiting.

“Bisping, he’s a s–t talker, and we’ve had our beef for a long time,” Rockhold said. “He said he had gotten the better of me in our training session. Let’s see about that.”

To hear more from Rockhold, including why he’s not really interested in a proposed meeting with Lyoto Machida fight in Brazil, watch the video above.

For more on UFC Fight Night 48, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.