Will UFC 199 : Rockhold vs Bisping Really Be Different?

Written by A.G Lee / @MMAHWatch

Does anyone remember UFC Fight Night 55 : Rockhold vs Bisping where Luke Rockhold was on a two fight winning streak and getting away from the shadow of being kicked into the next week by Vitor Belfort. Also a fight where it seemed that Michael Bisping would become the next title contender he was supposed to be after getting a TKO three years since his last finish.

Well that night didn’t end as well as planned for Michael Bisping as he lost in the second round to Luke Rockhold via a one-armed guillotine. Many MMAfans saw it as a one-sided beat-down as Michael Bisping  missed more punches the further the fight went along.
But Michael Bisping did do one thing well in the fight and that was land a lot of leg kicks and also not get manhandled by the strength of the now current champion a feat that many of Luke Rockhold victims seem not to handle very well.

The same strength we as MMA fans saw in his fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC on Fox 15 where most of the first and until the second round submission Rockhold grounded and beat on Machida almost at will with Machida having little to offer in terms of defense. The next victim was the former streaking champion Chris Weidman at UFC 194 where Weidman and Rockhold were almost evenly matched until the ill fated kick from Weidman opening up the opportunity for Rockhold to get a hold of Weidman.

The strength and dominance of Luke Rockhold was put on display as he took Weidman down and displayed ground and pound that was enough to make some MMA fans cringe and actually wonder why the referee didn’t call off the fight sooner.  Michael Bisping has never been known as an amazing ground specialist in his time in MMA and it seems as the gaping hole in his game that Rockhold has already exploited in their first fight. And with that knowledge it seems as something the new champion would be more open to taking advantage of the second time around.

Even with Bisping knowing the ins and outs of fighting Luke Rockhold and being as prepared as he’s going to be with less than two weeks notice, should we really expect anything different this time around? Not only does Bisping lack in the strength and grappling department against Rockhold, but also in their first fight the stats actually reveal the fight was further apart than it seemed in the striking department as well.

With Bisping being the fighter that he is, we can expect him to bring the fight to the seemingly unbeatable and overly confident Luke Rockhold at UFC 199. We can never count Bisping out of a fight as his record shows he has always made it to the second round of all of his fights where he has had a loss and sometimes that’s all he needs to turn everything around. With his volumetric approach to strikes more than anything he can keep Rockhold on his toes and quite possibly hurt him enough to find the opportunity he needs to finally win the belt after 10 long years.

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