Perennial UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping was forced to pull out of his bout with Mark Munoz at UFC Fight Night 30 later this month due to an eye injury, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t itching to fight again soon.

Last night, “The Count” tweeted that he’d be happy to go toe-to-toe with former Strikeforce champ and UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz.

“@bisping: @arielhelwani well if Diaz wants a fight at 185 I would happily welcome him to the division,” Bisping wrote.

Diaz retired after losing a clear-cut decision to long-time 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre at UFC 158 in March.

Many fans were infuriated by the title matchup, since Diaz has most recently lost to Carlos Condit in an interim title bout at UFC 143 in February 2012.

On top of that, the controversial Stockton striker, with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to boot, failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana and was subsequently suspended for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Diaz was briefly linked to a middleweight bout with former UFC light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, but that fight never came to fruition.

On the other hand, Bisping is 2-2 in his past four bouts, soundly defeating Brian Stann and Alan Belcher and losing title eliminator bouts to Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort.

While Diaz confirmed his retirement this past summer, he has expressed an interest in returning at 185 pounds since he is tired of cutting down to welterweight a 12-year, 36-fight career.

Would Bisping vs. Diaz draw major fan interest or is this just a fantasy fight destined never to happen?