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UFC 199 Statistical Matchup Analysis: Rockhold vs. Bisping
- Updated: June 1, 2016
Not so fast, injury bug. The Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title will still be up for grabs. After dethroning Chris Weidman in decisive fashion in December, Luke Rockhold had been gearing up to rematch the man he beat for the title. A neck injury put the bout on hold, and with Ronaldo Souza forfeiting his next-in-line status due to post-fight injuries of his own, Michael Bisping was the logical choice to replace Weidman in the UFC 199 main event on Saturday in Los Angeles. After suffering a devastating loss to Vitor Belfort in his promotional debut in 2013, Rockhold has put together a five-fight, five-finish winning streak, including a dominant second-round submission win over Bisping. Rockhold fought twice in 2015, but this will be his first fight of 2016. On the other side of the cage will be longtime veteran and “The Ultimate Fighter 3” winner Bisping. He entered the UFC as an undefeated prospect in 2006 and has been fighting at middleweight since 2008, making Bisping one of the longest-tenured fighters on the UFC roster in any weight class. In spite of that, this will be Bisping’s first appearance in a title fight, having lost in high-profile title eliminator matches to Dan Henderson in 2009 and Chael Sonnen three years after. Since losing to Rockhold in 2014, Bisping has won three straight, a streak he capped with a career-defining win over the legendary Anderson Silva in February. Thus, this will be his second fight of the year, matching the number of Octagon appearances he made in 2015. Bisping is the 5/1 underdog with Bet365 … While this may not be the first-choice title matchup for fight fans, there are intriguing narrative and stylistic elements to it. Here is what the Tale of the Tape says: Starting off with the anthropometric matchup, Rockhold has the clear physical advantages. He is taller and comfortably longer, and as the younger fighter, he is also more capable of utilizing his athleticism to accentuate those advantages. Even without his youthful edge, Rockhold is a more natural athlete than Bisping, who has always been good-not-great athletically but has milked his physical talents to the limits of his potential. Still yet, there is something to be said for Bisping’s high-level longevity, and he continues to add new wrinkles to his game this late in his career. In terms of time-related statistics, Bisping has certainly had a longer career — he is second only to Frankie Edgar among active UFC fighters when it comes to total Octagon minutes — but his edge in time logged is not the same as an edge in experience. Bisping has 10 more big-league fights, but if you adjust for the number of bouts that have gone past the third round, they are dead even with three. It bears mentioning that all three of Rockhold’s bouts that went beyond the 15-minute mark were …
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