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Two former champions, one deadly “Pit.”

Fans have been pestering Michael Bisping to complete his trilogy with Luke Rockhold.

After much persistence, it sounds like “The Count” has finally agreed to lace up the gloves for one more fight — but it won’t be inside the Octagon. Instead, Bisping is willing to test his might inside “The Pit” for Karate Combat at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Hopefully his eye doesn’t pop out during the bout.

“Luke Rockhold (at Karate Combat 45) – I was doing a live (stream) to it,” Bisping said on his official podcast (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “And everyone was like, ‘You’ve got to do the trilogy.’ I’ll do Karate Combat against Luke Rockhold. I’ll do it. I will have a trilogy with Luke Rockhold in Karate Combat. I would love to. Let me just see my hip doctor first and get my neck sorted. I’m joking. I’d do it – 100 percent I would. Let’s go.”

Rockhold defeated Bisping by submission at UFC Fight Night 55 back in late 2014, but was stopped in their UFC 199 rematch nearly two years later. Rockhold, 39, eventually parted ways with UFC and has since competed for BKFC and Karate Combat, scoring a knockout win over Joe Schilling earlier this month.

As for Bisping, 45, he retired from UFC after losing to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Shanghai, citing health concerns (which include this). Despite their ages and the collective wear-and-tear on their bodies, it’s hard to imagine Karate Combat promoters passing on the opportunity to cash in on this longstanding rivalry.

Time will tell.

Reigning UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has (finally) agreed to fight No. 1-ranked title contender Merab Dvalishvili. And since “The Machine” has spent the last several weeks begging for a crack at the crown, it would seem matchmakers have an easy layup for an upcoming pay-per-view (PPV) card.

Maybe … maybe not.

“I’m trying to book it, I’m trying to get it booked ASAP,” O’Malley said on TimboSugarShow (transcribed by MMA News). “The only issue is that some of the next pay-per-views aren’t in the country, and I’m not fighting out of the country. Not necessarily because I don’t want to — I don’t want to — but, you know, they have other people that, you know, take other places. But I’m ready to go, I’m f***ing wanting to book a fight ASAP. I just wanna hit him with that knee, boom, flatline him.”

Assuming O’Malley can survive endless takedowns.

UFC 301, UFC 302, UFC 303, and UFC 304 already have headlining fights, and UFC 305 is expected to take place in Perth, featuring this title bout. UFC 306 is currently scheduled for The Sphere in Las Vegas and UFC 307 does not yet have a location. As for UFC 308, that goes down on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi.

Maybe “Suga” needs to settle for a co-main event?

Cain Velasquez is headed to trial on Sept. 9 in Santa Clara County court.

The former UFC heavyweight champion appeared before the judge earlier this week, alongside attorney Renee Hessling, seeking an additional continuance in the attempted murder case from Velasquez’s 2022 shooting in California.

That motion was denied.

Velasquez, who turns 42 in July, is facing charges of attempted murder after a shooting incident against an alleged child molester back in March of 2022. The part-time luchador pleaded not guilty to the charges and filed a subsequent civil suit against the accused child molester, Harry Goularte, later in the year. Velasquez was eventually released on bond and has appeared sporadically at MMA events.

A trial readiness hearing is set for June 26.

“Thank you to everybody who supported me,” Velasquez said upon his release. “I love all of you. I want to just always continue to be better as a person, always do good things, just make something positive of this terrible situation. My family and I are going to do that. We’ll do something good.”

If convicted, Velasquez could face a minimum of 20 years in prison.