The UFC has found a replacement for the injured Chris Weidman at UFC 199, as Michael Bisping will challenge Luke Rockhold on June 4, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times.
Per Jason Floyd of the MMA Report, UFC President Dana White said Jacare Souza was the top choice to fight Rockhold, but he is unable to because of injuries suffered in his fight against Vitor Belfort on May 14.
Weidman was seeking to reclaim the UFC middleweight championship that he lost to Rockhold at UFC 194, the first defeat of his career in 14 fights.
However, Weidman announced Wednesday that he is unable to compete because of a neck injury he suffered during a sparring session while training to fight Rockhold:
I am being told I’m going to need surgery. Either they take the disc out or they fuse it and I have to meet with surgeons today to figure out what they will do. The good thing is it is c6-7 which is low in the neck, so I will have full range of motion either way and will be back better then ever. I’m told it’s six-to-eight week recovery for the disc coming out and twelve weeks for a fusion.
Even though White wanted to give Souza the championship fight, Bisping is a logical second option. He has won each of his last three fights, including a victory over Anderson Silva in February.
The 37-year-old Bisping has never fought for the UFC middleweight title in 10 years with the promotion, previously losing No. 1 contender bouts against Dan Henderson in 2009 and Chael Sonnen in 2012.
Bisping and Rockhold do have a history together. Rockhold defeated Bisping by submission early in the second round at UFC Fight Night in November 2014.
That loss may have been why White was looking elsewhere before landing at Bisping, but Souza’s quick turnaround time from his last fight made it a virtually impossible fight to make. This is Bisping’s moment to rewrite the narrative that he can’t win the big one.
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