Reports surfaced early this week that Michael Bisping was offered to step up and face Ronald “Jacare” Souza on short notice after Jacare’s original opponent was injured. Gilberto Faria, who manages Jacare, told Combate that Bisping had no interest in fighting he Brazilian.

Jacare was supposed to square off agains Yoel Romero this Saturday, April 18th at UFC on Fox but late last week it was announced that Romero had suffered a leg injury and had to pull out of the fight. This was supposed to be a crucial middleweight bout with heavy title implications for the winner. With less than a week from the event date the UFC had to scramble to find a replacement for Romero of lose the co-main event. With most middleweights already lined up for other fights the UFC got Chris Camozzi to replace Romero.

Bisping is scheduled to take on CB Dollaway at UFC 186 which is a week after the UFC on Fox card. It makes perfect sense for the UFC to offer Bisping the Jacare fight as he would only be asked to rush his fight camp just a week ahead. Jacare is also at the top of the division and would have been a statement win for Bisping to get right back into the title picture except for one small detail, according to Bisping he was never offered to fight Jacare. Bisping took to his Instagram to set the rumors straight.

Whether you like him or not, you have to give credit to Bisping for addressing the rumors before they got out of hand.