Friday night’s main event in Sydney, Australia will play host to more than just a fight between two of the best middleweights on the planet.
It’ll give Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping an opportunity to put a stamp on their ongoing feud and help give us a better idea of who’ll be standing across the middleweight champion as they duel for the crown.
Rockhold will step into the cage to prove himself a worthy candidate and give everybody reason to forget about the unfortunate night he had with Vitor Belfort in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil.
Bisping will look to finally overcome his title-eliminator misfortunes along with a very similar night with Belfort in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
With all that’s been said, neither man can afford to lose this bout. Here’s how they avoid shouldering the shame:
Luke Rockhold: Use Your Length and Get the Fight to the Ground
Save for two fateful nights during his seven-year career, Rockhold has always been above average at recognizing his opponent’s weaknesses and capitalizing on said weaknesses.
He did it when he fought Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for the Strikeforce middleweight title in 2011. Rockhold avoided hitting the mat with the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and saved himself from suffering the first submission loss of his career. He kept the fight standing, shining a bright light on the champion’s shortcomings as a striker.
He did it again in defending his title against a smaller, better wrestler in Tim Kennedy. With four inches of height and three inches of reach on his challenger, Rockhold utilized his height to stifle Kennedy from his second opportunity at the middleweight title.
Stepping in against Bisping—who’s proven to struggle against grapple-heavy fighters like Kennedy and Chael Sonnen—Kennedy should have his game plan set: Out-grapple his British counterpart en route to handing his opponent with first submission loss.
Michael Bisping: Utilize Your Jab Often and Circle Away
It’s hard to blame Bisping for the Belfort loss—just about anybody would have lost to Belfort that night.
You can certainly blame him for the Kennedy loss, though—he wasn’t able to establish his patented Bisping-jab or avoid getting smothered into a five-round, unanimous-decision loss. It wasn’t the Bisping we’d gotten used to seeing since he joined the UFC’s ranks.
If The Count wants to see his hand raised, he’ll have to do just that: Establish his jab against a more well-rounded striker and avoid getting smothered by the longer grappler.
Peppering the former Strikeforce champion should be plenty to give Bisping room to move around, which he’ll need to do early and often in order to avoid Rockhold‘s liver kicks. The Count would be wise to learn from his loss to Dan Henderson and realize that circling toward a fighter’s strength—especially one named after an atom bomb—all but ensures his demise.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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