Going into his 32^nd career fight, British mixed martial artist (MMA) Michael Bisping is on the verge of surrendering his dreams of reaching the middleweight title of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) if he loses to Luke Rockhold this weekend in Sydney, Australia.

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Every fighter will say that they want to be a champion, otherwise, they wouldn't have entered into the sport in the first place.

Bisping is no different. He has been saying it since he first entered the octagon in 2006. He has come close a few times, but he has inevitably always fell short with key losses that pulled him down.

He began at light heavyweight and lost a close decision to Rashad Evans. He went down a weight class and lost title eliminators to Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson.

That's why his bout against Rockhold is a real do-or-die situation for Bisping.

The two fighters have been feuding these past months. Verbal wars and threats have been flying through social media and even press conferences. The bad blood stemmed from a joking comment Bisping said when they sparred two years ago.

While the grievance has filled the ears of the media, it has not brought to attention the fact that this fight may be Bisping's last shot at a title.

A loss will not see Bisping released from the UFC though. He is much too big a draw for the premiere organization to want to cut ties with him. He is also a really good fighter for that to even be a possibility.

However, if he doesn't win this next match, he would most likely be edged out of the top 10 rankings of the middleweight division, and will find it difficult to fight back to the title.

If the 36-year old fighter loses, he will most likely retain as a gatekeeper for the UFC for the rest of his career. 

TagsMichael Bisping, Luke Rockhold, MMA, UFC