UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping capitalized on the opportunity to take Chris Weidman’s place in the title fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 199, doing so on just two weeks notice. Many believed Luke Rockhold would retain his belt, especially given the dominant win he held over ‘The Count’ in their first fight, but the Englishman made good on his promises to finish ‘Rocky’ on June 4. A flurry of clean punches to the chin cleaned out Rockhold in the first round, and Bisping had finally captured a title after 10 years of hard work.
With the storming victory came a stream of challenges from a line of contenders. Jacare Souza, Dan Henderson, Rockhold, Chris Weidman and even Georges St-Pierre wanted a crack. ‘GSP’ claimed a return fight with Bisping was ‘close,’ Henderson and ‘The Count engaged in an all new war of words that has fans clamouring for a rematch of their classic UFC 100 meeting. ‘Hendo’ scored an iconic knockout over Bisping that night and it seems somewhat fitting to have Henderson retire after a rematch, although the rankings would argue otherwise.
![bispinghendo[1]](http://cdn.lowkickmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/bispinghendo1.jpg)
But through all of this the former champ and number one contender Chris Weidman hasn’t really had his name thrown in the mix all that much. ‘The All American’ pulled out of the UFC 199 main event after a neck injury, later undergoing successful surgery to fix the issue. Now he’s clearly trying to drum up some hype for the most realist fight that’s been suggested since Bisping took over the division.
.@bisping or is it because maybe u have the belt and I’m the number 1 contender. You forget who’s title shot you took? #runningman
— Chris Weidman (@ChrisWeidmanUFC) 22 June 2016
It’s certainly a strange spot for the 185-pound division to be in right now. The unfinished business with a soon to be retired Henderson could well overshadow the official rankings in this scenario, and leave matchmakers with a tall task regarding the rest of the middleweight contenders. Should ‘Hendo’ have to fight his way back up or just retire, or does his epic KO over Bisping hold enough weight to have the ageing legend skip the queue?
The former champion Chris Weidman could fight Luke Rockhold in the meantime, but what would Jacare do? Throw in St-Pierre, who’s never even fought at middleweight, and you have an even more entertaining but also troublesome mix.
The only man smiling here is Bisping, who apparently hasn’t changed a bit.
@danhendo @ufc if your man enough to fight me without your testosterone like last time I’ll help you find a new logo. Cheating old bastard.
— michael (@bisping) 21 June 2016
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