Be honest, this time last year not many of you would have though that Michael Bisping would be UFC middleweight champion as we enter the summer of 2017. 

Bisping’s title victory last June over Luke Rockhold is considered to be one of the bigger upsets in the UFC’s recent history. His first round finish of the AKA fighter was as spectacular as it was improbable and undoubtedly the pinnacle of the Mancunian’s career, but it’s Bisping’s subsequent fight bookings which have drawn the ire of several top contenders in the middleweight division.

Dan Henderson, a fighter on the eve of his retirement, was selected by the UFC to challenge Bisping despite the title credentials of the likes of Chris Weidman, Ronaldo Souza, Gegard Mousasi and Yoel Romero.

Cuban Olympian Romero was considered to be the top contender for Bisping’s crown following his torpedo-like flying knee knockout of Weidman at UFC 205 last November but, as so often happens in the fight game, the landscape changed significantly when Georges St-Pierre announced he was ending his self-imposed three year hiatus from mixed martial arts and had his eye on Bisping’s title.

Romero, Souza and the winner of this weekend’s Mousasi vs. Weidman bout will all state their claims to face the winner of Bisping vs. GSP but the fact there are so many fighters in the conversation for a title bout is directly attributed to the fact that a #1 contender hasn’t fought for the middleweight title since Luke Rockhold dethroned Chris Weidman in December of 2015.

But, speaking on his Sirius XM radio show The Countdown, Bisping had some words for the contenders in his division.

“You know what the thing is? I had to wait a very, very long time for my title shot,” the Brit said. “And I didn’t go out there and I didn’t whine, I didn’t bitch, I didn’t go to Twitter and Instagram and every single fucking journalist that I spoke to and [say], ‘woe is me,’ and ‘this is ridiculous,’ and ‘the state of mixed martial arts in the UFC is going to shit.’ I never said that. You do you. You carry on fighting. The cream rises to the top and if you’re good enough, you’ll get your fucking shot.

“If you’re so good ‘Jacare,’ and if you’re so good Yoel Romero, the landscape of MMA is ever-changing and if you’re that good, you’re gonna continue to win fights and you’ll get your shot. So stop whinging, stop complaining. Get over it. I’m fighting GSP, hopefully in the summer [or] early fall and that’s just that. It’s set in motion. The fight is happening. It’s gonna do big business. Get over it.

“In the meantime, perhaps you guys can rematch because ‘Jacare’ lost to Yoel which I thought was a close fight,” Bisping said. “I thought maybe ‘Jacare’ won that fight regardless and then Yoel Romero tested positive. So I don’t see why those two guys don’t rematch in the interim. Maybe they can be a co-main event on that card and then I get to face the winner.

“When I wanted a title shot, I didn’t whine and complain and whinge and b*tch,” Bisping said. “If they’ve got any complaints, make them to the UFC, don’t make them to me. I’m doing me, you do you.”