Twitter Mailbag: So, Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre. It's really happening, huh?

In this week’s Twitter Mailbag, yep, the UFC went ahead and booked GSP vs. “The Count,” and it doesn’t seem to matter much what fans think about it. Also, is it weird to fight for people you are currently suing? Because that seems weird.

All that and more in this edition of the TMB. To ask a question of your own, tweet to @BenFowlkesMMA.

It makes Michael Bisping one of the best ever on paper, but maybe only very good in real life. The issue is context. Wins over Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre? That right there puts you in the top tier. Add in victories over the likes of Dan Henderson and Luke Rockhold, and you edge your way into legend territory.

Then someone comes along and points out that Silva and Henderson were both in their forties when you beat them, and you still nearly got knocked out in both fights. The same person might also insist that the Rockhold win had some fluke-like elements to it, especially considering the one-sided destruction of the first fight. Hell, even the win over Thales Leites came via split-decision.

But now there’s the chance to beat a 35-year-old St-Pierre. Who is coming back after more than three years away. And who has never fought at middleweight. You think the hypothetical skeptic from the previous paragraph might find some way to undermine this accomplishment, should Bisping come out on top?

The way I see it, Bisping’s story is one of endurance. This is a man who has lasted. He took years of beatings and insults, climbed all the way up the mountain just to be kicked off the side by UFC-sanctioned testosterone-users, and still he kept coming back, fighting for every inch he gained. Now he’s the champ, with a lot of famous pelts on his wall. He deserves considerable credit for that. Just don’t expect everybody to forget the circumstances of how he got here.

There’s one thing you know Bisping can and will do when faced with absolutely any opponent, and that’s turn a professional mixed martial arts bout into a bitter blood feud. He’s gifted that way.

And, it just so happens, that might be the one area where St-Pierre is seriously lacking. For a guy who was once the UFC’s “king of pay-per-view,” he is shockingly bad at hyping a fight. His most memorable moments were when he promised to go to his “dark places” for a Nick Diaz fight (a quote he later suggested was taken out of context), plus maybe when he looked into Josh Koscheck’s future with eerie accuracy.

Those were also two of St-Pierre’s best-selling pay-per-views (if you discount the monster card that was UFC 100), so maybe there’s reason to think that putting him opposite someone who can talk the talk is a good way to make it rain money. And it’s not like Bisping wouldn’t be talking that mess anyway, regardless of who he’s facing.

Let’s not act like this is the first time the UFC has disregarded its own rankings for the sake of profits. This is in keeping with a trend, like it or not, and it’s not as if we couldn’t have seen it coming.

Still, it does bring us back to a complaint I’ve heard about occasionally from fighters, but more often from managers. Right now, UFC executives can’t sit down with any given fighter from the roster and tell him or her, “Here’s what you need to do to get a title shot and/or a fat new contract.” It’s just not that simple.

You can win all your fights and still get passed over. You can jump up and down trying to get noticed in interviews and you might get told to shut up and get back in line. Meanwhile, some dude with a look the UFC likes gets paid more than you, and no one even seems to mind that he keeps losing.

That’s the problem for the athletes in this sport. It’s the fact that this only operates as a sport some of the time. Other times it’s the school play all over again, and casting is subject to the whims of the teacher.

Right. For the most part. We know why Bisping wants the fight. He’ll make considerably more money against GSP than he would against a legit middleweight contender like Yoel Romero, and with a much smaller chance of having his entire skull opened up on live TV. Plus, if you get the chance to say you beat the welterweight and middleweight GOATs, regardless of circumstances, you take it.

Then there’s St-Pierre, who also stands to make more off a Bisping fight than he would against anyone currently in the welterweight division. And don’t you think he might enjoy adding “two-division champ” to his long list of career accomplishments? Even after three years away, you can’t blame him if he looks at Bisping and sees, at least for him and his style, the most beatable middleweight champion in a decade.

So no, you can’t blame them. This is the prize-fighting business, and they both represent for each other the biggest potential prize with the least overall risk. If we’re really that mad about it, we could always abstain from watching and thus deny them our portion of their prize. But something tells me not many of us will still be mad enough to do that once fight night rolls around.

If it was anyone else I’d be tempted to say “wankster.” (Though I couldn’t actually say that unless I was rapping along with 50 Cent while alone in the car, otherwise I’d want to punch myself in the face.) But when we’re talking about Tony Ferguson, I don’t know, for some reason it works. Plus, even if it he looked dumb, who’s going to tell him? I’m not trying to catch one of those elbows, man.

That’s a good point, and one I’ll admit I hadn’t really thought about before now. It would be a big deal for Khabib Nurmagomedov to become the first Muslim champ, especially with the political climate here in the U.S. at the moment.

I guess I just wonder a) will the historic aspect be dimmed by the interim tag attached to the belt, and b) is it something the UFC would even mention on the UFC 209 broadcast?

When Amanda Nunes became the first openly gay UFC champ, it mostly went unremarked upon in the moment. You’d like to think that this would at least warrant some acknowledgement, even if it doesn’t need to be the focal point.

Now why you gotta go and throw out awesome ideas like that when we both know it’ll never happen?

In a dream world where fighters had the same right to bail on the UFC as the UFC has to bail on them, sure, a bunch of 185-pounder getting fed up at the same time and going off to Bellator for a PRIDE-style Grand Prix would be incredible. (I particularly enjoy the inclusion of “three other dudes,” since no MMA tournament is complete without a little TBD.) But alas, looks like these middleweights will just have to stay and stick it out. For now, anyway.

Short answer: It’s weird. Fighting for people you are currently suing on conspiracy and racketeering charges, and right around the same time that they’re trying to get your case thrown out, it’s all pretty weird. Also pretty uncommon in MMA.

Still, if there’s anyone who I believe could put it all out of his mind and throw those hammers the same way he always does, it’s Mark Hunt. Seems like it’s hard to make a dent in that man’s psyche at this point. You just better hope you don’t get nabbed by a drug test after you fight him. If you do, you’re probably going to hear from his lawyers.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.