Michael Bisping: UFC 199 Was The ‘Easiest Fight Of My Life’

It may have taken Michael Bisping nearly a decade of competing inside the Octagon to earn his long-awaited UFC middleweight title shot, but it didn’t take him too long to get the job done when he did get in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., June 4, 2016) UFC 199 from The Forum in

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It may have taken Michael Bisping nearly a decade of competing inside the Octagon to earn his long-awaited UFC middleweight title shot, but it didn’t take him too long to get the job done when he did get in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., June 4, 2016) UFC 199 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Now-former champion Luke Rockhold was slated to face off with another former champion in Chris Weidman in the evening’s main event, but Weidman was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury. Bisping subsequently accepted the fight with his bitter rival on just two weeks’ notice, and ultimately knocked Rockhold out in the first round.

Rockhold was largely cinsdiered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA at the time, but Bisping said the exact opposite was true. In the aftermath of the clash, “The Count” called it the ‘easiest night’ of his life:

“The easiest few weeks of my life,” Bisping told FOX Sports 1 of his title win. “(Before I got the call to fight at UFC 199) I was drinking beer on a movie set filming XxX (with) Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson – no big deal. The easiest night of my life, the easiest fight, the easiest camp, the easiest payday. Thank you, Luke.”

UFC 199 actually marked the rematch between the two, as Rockhold scored a finish over Bisping back in November 2014. The Brit, however, considered it to be the third meeting, as he has repeatedly mentioned a sparring session where he claims to have gotten the better of Rockhold.

With that being said, “The Count” was eager to land the rematch, and wasted no time in accepting the offer:

“I sparred Luke before, and I know sparring doesn’t count, but I did kind of wipe the floor with him. In the (last) fight he got lucky; he caught me with a nice head kick. I wanted this rematch so bad, and I wanted a title fight so bad. So when the opportunity came on two weeks’ notice, I didn’t even think about it.

“I said going into this fight – I think I’ve always trained too hard in the past. I’ve always overtrained. My power was better tonight because I had a shorter camp. … I could see it coming. I definitely had the speed advantage. He was telegraphing all his shots. I have a mean left hook.”

In Bisping’s mind, his UFC 199 performance was the culmination of years and years of hard work. Simply put, he was able to show the world what he had always knew and believed:

“I’ve always knew I was at this level,” he said. “I’ve had my ups and downs, and I’ve lost some fights along the way. I don’t want to get into the whole performance-enhancing drugs thing, but that was kind of an issue over the years. But I still believed. I always dusted myself off and picked myself back up.

“I know I had a lot of detractors that didn’t believe I was at that caliber, but I want to thank those guys as well. They fueled me on and helped light that fire inside me. I always knew I could do this. I always knew I had punching power. I knew I had the ability, and tonight, of course, I got to show everybody.”

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Four Fights For Michael Bisping To Take Next

Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory. Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event. 25 Octagon fights

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Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory.

Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event.

25 Octagon fights and a decade into his storied UFC career, Michael “The Count” Bisping has finally reached the pinnacle.

Accepting a bout with Luke Rockhold on just over two weeks’ notice, many had Bisping was a huge +600 underdog heading into the night.

After all, Rockhold did dismantle the British veteran in November 2014, and Bisping came into that bout with a full camp.

However, as we are so often reminded, the fight game is unpredictable.

Bisping came out firing in the first round, putting Rockhold away with strikes early on to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

What a rollercoaster ride it has been for “The Count”, and now at age 37, he’s finally on top.

Let’s take a look at four potential fights for Bisping to take next:

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Luke Rockhold: UFC 199 Will Be The End Of Michael Bisping

We’re now just over a week away from the scheduled middleweight title rematch between bitter rivals Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping which is slated for June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California. Rockhold was originally set to meet ex-champion Chris Weidman, but Weidman was forced to withdraw with another injury, leading the UFC to call

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We’re now just over a week away from the scheduled middleweight title rematch between bitter rivals Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping which is slated for June 4’s UFC 199 from Inglewood, California.

Rockhold was originally set to meet ex-champion Chris Weidman, but Weidman was forced to withdraw with another injury, leading the UFC to call on Bisping to step up on extremely short notice.

Despite the short notice, however, Rockhold and Bisping haven’t had trouble hyping up the fight and ramping up the trash talk, and the two actually went back and forth on a UFC 199 media call yesterday (May 26, 2016).

Rockhold got the better of “The Count” the first time around, and he plans to not only ‘end’ Bisping again, but to run a demolition course through the 185-pound division’s elite (via FOX Sports):

“Going out there to shut Mike’s mouth, to shut all these guys mouths. All these guys have made excuses. Mike, Chris Weidman, Jacare, well guess what? I beat them all and I’m going to beat them all again, one at a time. They’re all going to get theirs,” Rockhold said.

“Mike’s a tough dude. He’s got balls. He took this fight but this will not be his fairytale. This will be his swan song. This will be the end of him.”

It appears as if the champion is out to prove something, threatening to ‘humiliate’ Bisping, and guaranteeing that the British veteran will not be holding the title after the night’s event:

“You will not be a champion. I will humiliate you next week. Mark my words — humiliation,” Rockhold said. “It’s going to be so one-sided, it’s going to be something special.”

Bisping, a notorious trash talker in his own right, fired back at Rockhold. Oozing with confidence, Bisping feels as if it’s his time to shine:

“All right, we’ll see about that. When you’re on the floor and you’re looking up at the stars it’s going to be ‘(expletive), I just lost my belt to a guy that came in on two weeks’ notice,’ took your belt that you worked so hard for on two weeks’ (expletive) notice,” Bisping said.

“How’s that going to feel?”

Who do you see taking home UFC gold next weekend?

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Bisping On Training With Rockhold: I Made Mince Meat Of Him

After over a decade of competing inside of the UFC Octagon, veteran mainstay Michael “The Count” Bisping will finally receive his shot at middleweight supremacy when he rematches reigning champion Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199. Rockhold was scheduled to meet ex-champion Chris Weidman, but Weidman was forced to withdraw with an injury, leading

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After over a decade of competing inside of the UFC Octagon, veteran mainstay Michael “The Count” Bisping will finally receive his shot at middleweight supremacy when he rematches reigning champion Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199.

Rockhold was scheduled to meet ex-champion Chris Weidman, but Weidman was forced to withdraw with an injury, leading the UFC to call on Bisping.

When the two men first met in 2014, Bisping suffered a disappointing loss to Rockhold, but he’s now extremely confident about his chances in the rematch despite the fact that he’ll be fighting on just a few week’s notice.

“The Count” admits that he made mistakes in the first bout, but claims that when he and Rockhold trained together a few years back that he got the best of the champion:

“Look, I know I’m the underdog, Luke is a great fighter, he finishes guys and he’s finished me before. But, nothing about Luke scares me, it really doesn’t. I know this guy, it’s not like I’m going into unknown waters. I know exactly what to expect. Apart from that one head kick that dropped me, none of his shots hurt me at all. I believe I’m faster than him and I have the ability to beat this guy, believe you me. We trained before and I made mince meat out of him. When we fought, God bless him, he got the job done. But, every fight is different and I will approach this fight very differently. I made some mistakes in that last fight — I closed the distance then I went out of range. I was going in and out the whole time. This time, I am not going to play the long game, I can’t afford to do that. “ Bisping said on today’s (May 23, 2016) edition of The MMA Hour.

Bisping is well aware that he’ll likely be giving up the conditioning advantage, but in the end, he whole-heartedly feels as if he can finish Rockhold:

“He’s going to have the better conditioning, let’s be honest. If it goes five rounds, I have to go slower, but I am going to look to take him out early by closing the distance, push him up against the fence and unleash what I got and I believe I can take him out.”

“The Count” has always been a polarizing trash talker, but his apparent beef with Rockhold appears to be more than just hype and promotion. In fact, Bisping admitted that this fight is ‘personal’, and he also had a few choice words for the 185-pound kingpin:

“He’s a smug asshole, let’s be honest. Listen, as I said, I want the shot, want to be the champion, but I have this this inner fight in me, I pride myself in being a fighter, even in school. If there was a kid who was a couple of years older who thought he could beat me in a fight, I was like, ‘Cool, let’s go to the Castle Field and let’s figure it out. I’ve always been like that, it’s to my detriment, of course. Rockhold owns a victory over me, I want to rectify that. I want to set the record straight. Yes, I want to be the victor, world champion, but I also want to beat Luke Rockhold, it is personal to me. And when I look at him, I just want to knock that smug look off his face. I really do because you’ve never seen someone who walks around so smug. He’s just the biggest, smug prick you’ve seen in your life and I would love another opportunity to punch him in the face and be world champion at the same time.”

The Brit seems to be riding a wave of confidence, but does he have what it takes to steal the title away from Rockhold?

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