Luke Rockhold is on a mission to earn a shot at the middleweight championship.
With performances like the one he gave at UFC Fight Night 55, Rockhold won’t have to wait much longer. In Friday’s main event in Australia, Rockhold became the first fighter to make Michael Bisping—who hadn’t tapped in 31 prior appearances—submit.
An accidental headbutt in the opening moments opened a Bisping cut on his left brow. While the cut appeared to be bothering Bisping, Rockhold was clearly the better man in that matchup.
The American Kickboxing Academy member softened Bisping up with body kicks in the opening round. That opened the door for Rockhold to land a head kick in the second stanza. Bisping was knocked down by the strike and ended up getting caught in a guillotine choke before he could recover.
Rockhold has now won three in a row, recording finishes in all three victories. With a knockout win over Costas Philippou and a submission win over Tim Boetsch preceding this triumph over Bisping, Rockhold has cemented himself as one of the top contenders in the middleweight division.
This @LukeRockhold is a problem for anyone at middleweight. Impressive adjustments & win from a sure to be future title challenger.
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) November 8, 2014
Only Ronaldo Souza, Vitor Belfort and Lyoto Machida were ranked higher than Rockhold heading into UFC Fight Night 55. With Machida recently losing to champion Chris Weidman and Belfort scheduled to challenge the titleholder soon, Souza appears to be the only fighter ahead of Rockhold in the line for a title shot. Considering Rockhold defeated Souza under the Strikeforce banner, that could mean a rematch to determine who meets the winner of the upcoming championship bout between Weidman and Belfort.
Meanwhile, Bisping has now alternated wins and losses over his past eight outings. The Englishman is still a top-notch middleweight, but he hasn’t been able to generate momentum and could be running out of time to earn a shot at the championship, given he is now 35 years old. A strong 185-pounder for so long, it would be shocking to see Bisping go his whole career without getting a crack at UFC gold.
Bisping: “… More power to the motherf*cker … I’m going nowhere, don’t you forget it.” There’s only one Bisping.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 8, 2014
Despite this damaging loss, Bisping is hardly giving up hope on a title run. The Count may have to take a step back, but his popularity will always keep him within a couple of big wins of competing for the belt. Expect another noteworthy opponent to be coming Bisping’s way soon.
With Rockhold’s submission against Bisping, UFC Fight Night 55 ended without a single decision. It wasn’t the first time that had happened in UFC history, but the event’s 11 finishes sure left MMA fans pleased.
The UFC will double up with UFC Fight Night 56 on Saturday. Hosted in Uberlandia, Brazil, the event is headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Mauricio Rua and Ovince St. Preux. Let’s hope the MMA gods don’t respond to UFC Fight Night 55 by providing us with a card featuring all decisions.
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