Michael Bisping and Cung Le will go head-to-head this weekend (Sat. Aug. 23, 2014) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 48: "Bisping vs Le," which goes down from the Venetian CotaiArena in Macau, China.
And though you wouldn't have guessed the two men have any animosity going into the fight -- which airs exclusively on Fight Pass -- based on these pictures, whatever cordiality they had toward one another is now gone.
That's because Bisping accused Le of being nothing but a "phony" who is quick to talk behind your back after being nice to your face. He's also a declining "B-level movie star" who is using the publicity Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) gives him to land more movie parts.
That's why "The Count" took the opportunity to put the former Strikeforce middleweight champion on blast during a recent interview with Sherdog.
Check it out:
"Listen, Cung Le is basically back in the UFC to boost his brand and remind everybody of his existence. He hasn't fought in a couple of years, so I'm guessing his profile has dipped. He's probably not getting too many embarrassing kung-fu movie offers right now -- and probably worst of all for him -- Channing Tatum has stopped re-tweeting him."
He continues:
"I exchanged all the pleasantries, gave him all the small talk as you are supposed to in these situations, and I even went as far as pretending to be absolutely blown away that he's apparently friends with Channing Tatum. Basically, I went out of my way to be nice to him, and everything was very civil. We promoted the fight, shook hands and went back home to train for the fight. Then I see him on UFC.com doing a Fight Club Q&A, and he's talking a load of bollocks about me. Basically, he's jumped on the same old, boring bandwagon everyone else who fights me does -- which is to say what a smack talker I am while, as always, they are the ones who talk crap first. What a phony. If he had a problem with me then he could have spared me all the boring anecdotes about Channing Tatum."
Apparently, Le is good friends with Channing Tatum. They did, after all, star together in the 2009 film, "Fighting."
Moving on.
For Bisping, he knows he can count on his cardio to carry him through an entire five-round fight, something Le is well-prepared for. But at the age of 42, Le might not be able to hang for the full 25 minutes according to the British banger.
His words:
"I'm going to put a beating on him, and he can disappear again back to B-movies. I have to close the distance on him, because he needs space to generate power in those fancy kicks of his. He's got nothing at close range; everything is at a distance for him. And, at 42, he's got no gas in the tank. He's got four minutes or so in him -- then he's absolutely knackered. This is a five-round fight, and he's 42 years old and hasn't fought in two years. He had no gas in his first UFC fight three years ago, so he's not going to be in better shape now."