Well this just got a little more interesting… After years of being a trash talking hooligan of the UFC’s middleweight division, Michael Bisping finally backed it all up at UFC 199. His stunning first round knockout over Luke Rockhold was followed up by a stream of fighters wanting a piece of ‘The Count,’ and not surprisingly
After years of being a trash talking hooligan of the UFC’s middleweight division, Michael Bisping finally backed it all up at UFC 199. His stunning first round knockout over Luke Rockhold was followed up by a stream of fighters wanting a piece of ‘The Count,’ and not surprisingly given the number of rivalries the brash Englishman has racked up during his storied UFC career. There was even talk of an immediate rematch with Rockhold, before Bisping himself shot them down in short order.
The talk of a rematch with Dan Henderson has also been rife, even though the rankings would play against that fight, ‘Hendo’s’ classic knockout over Bisping at UFC 100 and the fact he only has one fight left is making that match very possible and also extremely marketable. But then former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s name got throw in the mix.
In a recent interview, as quoted during a recent LowKick article, newly minted UFC 185-pound champion Michael Bisping said a fight with Georges St-Pierre would be an enticing idea.
“As you said, fighting Georges St-Pierre [would be] great, and of course for the title for who has the most wins in UFC history…I mean, that alone is a fantastic tagline and great promotion.
“I do want to defend the belt, and I want to make as much money as I can in the process. So, I would certainly be open to sending Georges St-Pierre back to a movie set because that would be a fight I would definitely win and if Georges St-Pierre is listening, any time you fancy it, just be a man and sign on the dotted line and your return will be short-lived.”
It looks like Georges St-Pierre’s camp has now responded, reaching out to Bisping in efforts of making this fight happen…
Ten year UFC veteran Michael Bisping finally found his way to the championship belt on June 4 with a first round knockout against Luke Rockhold. After coming unstuck at all the major milestones before title fights in the past, ‘The Count’ ended up stepping in on short notice to replace former champ Chris Weidman at
Ten year UFC veteran Michael Bisping finally found his way to the championship belt on June 4 with a first round knockout against Luke Rockhold. After coming unstuck at all the major milestones before title fights in the past, ‘The Count’ ended up stepping in on short notice to replace former champ Chris Weidman at UFC 199. With just two weeks to prepare Bisping avenged his 2014 submission loss to ‘Rocky with a career making KO over the now fallen champ.
With victories over Rockhold and MMA legend Anderson Silva in his last two bouts, there’s been plenty of speculation as to who should be next in line for a title shot. With the scoreline at 1-1 with Rockhold, there’s the obvious possibility of a rubber match down the line, but Bisping recently said he thought Weidman and ‘Rocky’ should settle their business first. The Englishman recently called out former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and also gave Jacare Souza his props in terms of a potential fight in the near future. But let’s be honest, there’s one title tilt that everyone is clamouring for, but it doesn’t have much to do with rankings.
Of course we are talking about Dan Henderson, the famed mixed martial arts veteran who knocked Bisping out cold at UFC 100 in 2009. The two shared a bitter rivalry that was ended by one of the greatest knockouts of all time, and one that ‘The Count’ is desperate to avenge. Speaking with FOX Sports, the new middleweight champ finally put things in perspective, stating the top three contenders will have to wait, as he wants no. 13 ranked ‘Hendo’ next:
“He’s still knocking people out, he’s still looking good, but he’s going to retire soon,” Bisping said. “So I would love to get revenge on him before he retires. That is the only reason for wanting him next because soon he’ll be retired and then after that he can stop using that logo of me unconscious with him floating above me. I know people are going to criticize me and say that’s a cop out but for personal reasons, that one has haunted me for a long, long time.
“Then once I dispatch of the old man and I send him packing, then I can take care of “Jacare” and your Weidman’s and your Rockhold’s. They’ll still be there. They ain’t going nowhere. But Dan Henderson is on borrowed time as we speak.”
Although Jacare, Rockhold, Weidman and nearly everyone else is well ahead of Henderson in the official rankings, Bisping maintains his old rival is the only fight he wants next:
“The amount of messages I’ve gotten on Twitter from people, it’s crazy, they want to see it,” Bisping said. “Dan has had an amazing career. He’s one of the true pioneers and legends of this sport and he always will be and he owns an incredible knockout over me.”
“So for those reasons, I do want to get that back. On top of that, it’s a huge fight that would sell. People want to see that. He’s still got the knockout power, now I’m the champion so for all those reasons, I would love to get another crack at that son of a (expletive).”
Dan Henderson also fought at UFC 199, scoring a back elbow knockout against the much younger Hector Lombard. Could it be that the rematch is finally going to happen?
A lifelong dream was recognized over a week ago when UFC veteran Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping downed the now-former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 199, to capture the first UFC title in the Brit’s decade-long UFC career. Now Bisping is as cocky and confident as ever, as he is prepared to
A lifelong dream was recognized over a week ago when UFC veteran Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping downed the now-former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 199, to capture the first UFC title in the Brit’s decade-long UFC career.
Now Bisping is as cocky and confident as ever, as he is prepared to take on all challengers for his first UFC title defense. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour this week, Bisping spoke on who that challenger just might be:
“Well, you know of course, I’m no spring chicken,” he said. “I’m 37. It’s not like I’ve got 10 years ahead of me. There’s certain fights that I want, there’s certain people I’d like to get revenge on, and there’s certainly viable contenders. So there’s many different ways you can go and there are many ways you can look at things.
“Now I know Chris Weidman is bitching and getting on like a 12-year-old on Instagram and stuff, talking about me and directing insults at me and this and that. The fact of the matter is that Chris just lost to the guy that I just knocked out.
He wasn’t scheduled to fight me, he was scheduled for a rematch with Luke Rockhold. So as far as I’m concerned, Chris Weidman needs to win a fight.
Chris Weidman is out of the equation. Chris Weidman is coming off a loss, and unless you’re called Chael Sonnen you don’t get title shots coming off a loss.”
Another viable contender the champion mentioned is No. 3-ranked Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, who is coming hot off of a first round thrashing of Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in May:
“Jacare of course is a very, very viable contender,” he said. “So he’s certainly in the running. A rematch with Luke Rockhold, again, I think Luke should rematch with Chris and then whoever wins that is probably the No. 1 contender.
Yes me and Luke are one and one, but that first fight was two years ago and this rematch wasn’t even close. I knocked him out in three minutes.
I knocked him out cold, so maybe Chris and Luke, they have the match that was scheduled and the winner of that is the No. 1 contender.”
A rematch with Dan Henderson is also an intriguing matchup to Bisping, as the pair met at UFC 100 back in 2009 that saw Henderson putting Bisping to sleep early with a nasty right hand. Now with ‘Hendo’ coming towards the end of his career, and riding the momentum of the devastating knockout win over Hector Lombard at UFC 199, a rematch between the two makes sense now more than ever:
“Of course, there’s been talk about Dan Henderson, which kind of came out of the blue,” Bisping said. “Dan Henderson kind of tweeted it out, and Joe Rogan put a picture on Instagram, and that seems to be getting a lot of traction.
Of course, that is a fight that I would love. There hasn’t been any kind of offer or anything like that, but that’s a fight that I would take because everybody knows about UFC 100, and Dan Henderson still has an image of him floating above my head while I’m knocked out as his logo. So, I would like to put him in his place.”
“One thing I would like to do is defend the belt in the U.K.,” he said. “I would love to defend the belt in Manchester later in the year.”
Later in the interview Helwani asked Bisping on his thoughts of a potential showdown against former 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre, an idea that seemed to intrigue the new champ:
“It kind of has now that you mentioned it,” he said. “As you said, fighting Georges St-Pierre [would be] great, and of course for the title for who has the most wins in UFC history…I mean, that alone is a fantastic tagline and great promotion.
And of course, the numbers would be fantastic with Georges St-Pierre, he’s a massive, proven draw, and at the end of the day we’ll try to generate as much money as possible.
“I do want to defend the belt, and I want to make as much money as I can in the process. So, I would certainly be open to sending Georges St-Pierre back to a movie set because that would be a fight I would definitely win and if Georges St-Pierre is listening, any time you fancy it, just be a man and sign on the dotted line and your return will be short-lived.”
“Whether it’s Georges St-Pierre, Dan Henderson, Jacare Souza — who ever it is, line them up and I’ll knock them down.”
Anderson Silva’s greatest rival claims to have the scoop on the all-time great former champion’s next fight. Speaking during a recent episode of his “You’re Welcome” podcast, retired UFC star Chael Sonnen revealed that Silva is supposedly facing Uriah Hall at July 9’s blockbuster UFC 200 from the brand-new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. No.
Anderson Silva’s greatest rival claims to have the scoop on the all-time great former champion’s next fight.
Speaking during a recent episode of his “You’re Welcome” podcast, retired UFC star Chael Sonnen revealed that Silva is supposedly facing Uriah Hall at July 9’s blockbuster UFC 200 from the brand-new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
No. 5-ranked Silva and No. 9-ranked Hall were originally scheduled to fight at May 14’s UFC 198 from Curitiba, Brazil, but a gall bladder injury requiring surgery forced ‘The Spider’ off of the card. It’s still unknown at to whether or not this bout will truly become a reality, but if it indeed does, there’s no question that UFC 200 would be the most stacked event of all-time on paper after the recent addition of Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt last weekend.
Arguably the UFC’s most decorated fighter with wins for most consecutive wins, title defenses, and finishes, ‘The Spider’ has unfortunately fallen on hard times after losing his belt in shocking fashion to Chris Weidman in July of 2013. After recovering from the broken leg he suffered in his rematch with Weidman in late 2013, Silva returned to beat Nick Diaz in a rather uninspired affair at UFC 183. The win was later changed to a no contest, however, as Silva tested positive for a number of performance-enhancing drugs and other banned medication.
A yearlong suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) ended with ‘The Spider’ facing off with current champion Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 this February. In a controversy-laden affair, ‘The Count’ would go on to win a close unanimous decision after getting nearly knocked out by a Silva flying knee when he went to motion to his mouthpiece, which had fallen out of his mouth at the very end of the third round. Bisping would go on to knock out Luke Rockhold on short notice in the main event of last week’s UFC 199.
Hall, meanwhile, was last seen losing a decision to surging prospect Robert Whittaker at UFC 193. He’s won five out of his last seven bouts, including his highlight reel spin kick finish of Gegard Mousasi at last September’s UFC Japan. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) legend has consistently shown a trend of alternating between amazing stoppages and lackluster performances, but many still believe a potential showdown with ‘The Spider’ would be one of the finest striking battles that could go down in mixed martial arts.
In the preview that UFC released for their new UFC Fight Pass special, “UFC 199: The Thrill & Agony,” which takes a closer look at last Saturday’s shocking UFC Middleweight Championship between Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, fans might have a clearer picture of what Rockhold was referring to when arguing with Bisping at the UFC 199 post-fight press conference.
As seen in the preview for the new episode, which is now available on UFC Fight Pass, Bisping had some harsh comments for a still-coming-to Rockhold after knocking him out to win the UFC Middleweight title.
The official description for the new episode of “The Thrill & Agony” reads:
Re-live the action and go behind the scenes from UFC 199: Rockhold vs Bisping 2 at the historic Forum in Los Angeles, California. Watch the whole video exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS. http://www.ufc.tv/video/ufc-199-the-thrill-the-agony
https://youtu.be/7HWSLJGEer4
In the preview that UFC released for their new UFC Fight Pass special, “UFC 199: The Thrill & Agony,” which takes a closer look at last Saturday’s shocking UFC Middleweight Championship between Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, fans might have a clearer picture of what Rockhold was referring to when arguing with Bisping at the UFC 199 post-fight press conference.
As seen in the preview for the new episode, which is now available on UFC Fight Pass, Bisping had some harsh comments for a still-coming-to Rockhold after knocking him out to win the UFC Middleweight title.
The official description for the new episode of “The Thrill & Agony” reads:
Re-live the action and go behind the scenes from UFC 199: Rockhold vs Bisping 2 at the historic Forum in Los Angeles, California. Watch the whole video exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS. http://www.ufc.tv/video/ufc-199-the-thrill-the-agony
In addition to making it clear that he doesn’t intend to fight Luke Rockhold in an immediate rematch in his first title defense as UFC Middleweight Champion, Michael Bisping also doesn’t seem overly interested in a fight with former champion Chris Weid…
In addition to making it clear that he doesn’t intend to fight Luke Rockhold in an immediate rematch in his first title defense as UFC Middleweight Champion, Michael Bisping also doesn’t seem overly interested in a fight with former champion Chris Weidman, either.
Weidman recently contacted “The Count” on social media, asking him if he was going to be a man of his word and fight him now that he is champion.
Bisping, however, appears to have different ideas in mind.
You can check out the Weidman-Bisping social media exchange below.
Bisping became UFC Middleweight Champion by knocking out Rockhold in the first round of their UFC 199 main event fight at The Forum in Inglewood, California on June 4, 2016.
@ChrisWeidmanUFC bum? your coming off a loss to the guy I just Knocked out cold. Fight rockhold, win and we'll see. I call the shots. #facts
![dan-henderson-michael-bisping[1]](http://cdn.lowkickmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/dan-henderson-michael-bisping1.jpg)
Another viable contender the champion mentioned is No. 3-ranked Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, who is coming hot off of a first round thrashing of Vitor Belfort at UFC 198 in May:
