CLITHEROE UFC ace Michael Bisping insists he has no plans to retire despite suffering a stoppage defeat to Luke Rockhold in Sydney on Saturday.

Middleweight Bisping had hoped to put himself in contention for a world title fight with victory over Rockhold but those hopes now seem remote after his loss to the American.

Bisping suffered the seventh defeat of his professional career in the second round in Australia.

The 35-year-old was affected by an accidental clash of heads in the first round before and struggled to find his range against the favourite Rockhold.

Bisping’s opponent was causing some problems with body kicks and then landed a head kick in the second round to send the East Lancashire man to the floor.

Bisping attempted to get back to his feet but Rockhold locked him in a guillotine that allowed him to finish the fight.

Rockhold is now in the frame to fight the winner of the world title fight between current champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort on February 28.

Bisping’s future is more uncertain, as he again suffered defeat just as he appeared to be nearing a world title shot.

But he is not planning to quit the sport just yet, saying: "I still love what I do.

"I still love this. I'm a fighter, I'll always be a fighter.

“As long as there's a beat in my heart, I'll still fight. I love doing this."

Bisping will now return to his base in California and see what his next move will be.

"Obviously coming into this fight I expected to win so after this I was thinking about the title," he said.

"You’ve got to be man enough to deal with a loss and analyse what’s next.

"I still feel in my prime, I’ll go home and see what the UFC want to do next.

"Whoever they want to match me with is more than fine with me.

"Obviously I wanted the title next. That ain’t going to be happening so we’ll see.

"There are many good guys and many entertaining fights to put on."

Bisping admitted the clash of heads in the first round had not helped his cause, but conceded that Rockhold was the better fighter on the night.

"I've got to be careful about how I word this, because he beat me fair and square," he said.

“But I can't really remember anything after the headbutt, to be honest.

“But that's the way it goes. We're in there and we're punching and we're kicking, and heads clash.

“I doubt it was intentional. But it certainly did affect things."