UFC 199: Luke Rockhold vs. Michael Bisping Toe to Toe Preview – Complete Breakdown

Rockhold and Bisping inexplicably throw down for the rematch nobody asked for this June 4, 2016 at the The Forumin Inglewood, California.

Single sentence summary:

Phil: A chance to pay respects to one of MMA’s most doughty gatekeepers finally getting his shot

David: A contender with the highest blood pressure faces a champion itching to pour it out of him.

Stats?

Record: Luke Rockhold 15-2 Michael Bisping 28-7

Odds: Luke Rockhold -660 Michael Bisping +540

History lesson / introduction to the fighters

Phil: Welcome to the top of the heap, Luke Rockhold. The path he took to the belt wasn’t as direct as he might have liked, being diverted as it was by a Vitor wheel kick, although arguably that experience gave him the impetus to fix his issues with being a slow starter. Now, here he is.

In general it feels like Rockhold slid in under the radar,both due to the Vitor KO and due to the (inaccurate) assumption that the Strikeforce middleweights were weaker than their UFC counterparts. This would likely be a massively unpopular assertion, but I still think that if you subbed in Tim Kennedy for Chael Sonnen, then he would have beaten Anderson Silva.

David: At this stage of the game, I’d bet on some welterweights to beat Anderson. Honestly I don’t even think Rockhold was the hipster contender of choice or anything. Fans had a sense of who he was, and hardcore fans respected his skillset as elite. The problem was, and continues to be his health. Out of sight, out of mind. With so much inactivity between fights, there was just no legit gauge to measure his worth.

Phil: Michael Bisping got knocked out by Dan Henderson. That was 99 numbered UFCs and 226 total events ago. Rather than being defined by what was one of the most famous KOs in the sport, Bisping has slowly worked to become something of a fan favourite. Part of this is that he’s lost a bunch of fights since then, and it starts to become pointless and boring to harp on about how each one happened. Rockhold has promised to beat Bisping “more impressively” than he’s ever been beaten before. The logical response to this is: Oh yeah? Well, Michael Bisping has lost in some pretty fucking impressive ways, you know. It hasn’t humbled him yet.

David: To be fair to Bisping, it’s been something like 3 years since he’s been brutally knocked unconscious and that was to Vitor Belfort, who was probably raiding Steve Rogers’ personal stash at the time. Bisping doesn’t get enough credit for his durability. It’s not a strength, granted, but as Joe Rogan would eloquently say: Michael Bisping is a DOG (!).

What are the stakes?

Phil: Similar to Faber-Cruz, this is a chance for a well-known face to give some shine to a championship fighter who’s already beaten him before. The difference is that this is Bisping’s first and likely only title shot, so there’s much more sentimentality to the whole thing.

David: For some reason, this whole Bisping title shot keeps …

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