UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping honestly doesn’t know who he’ll fight next. Bisping, who has been sidelined since a win last year vs. Dan Henderson, thought he was primed for a bout vs. former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. That all changed, though, and Robert Whittaker became the next likely opponent after he won the […]
UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping honestly doesn’t know who he’ll fight next. Bisping, who has been sidelined since a win last year vs. Dan Henderson, thought he was primed for a bout vs. former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. That all changed, though, and Robert Whittaker became the next likely opponent after he won the […]
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will finally make his return to action in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116 on Sept. 16 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, although his opponent likely isn’t one fight fans were expecting. Instead of facing a top contender, Rockhold will face off with No. 9-ranked David Branch, who recently […]
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will finally make his return to action in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116 on Sept. 16 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, although his opponent likely isn’t one fight fans were expecting. Instead of facing a top contender, Rockhold will face off with No. 9-ranked David Branch, who recently scored a split-decision victory over Krystof Jotko in his return to the UFC.
One fighter who isn’t too pleased with the fight announcement is Yoel Romero, who took to his official Twitter account to accuse Rockhold of ducking him:
“The Solider of God” is coming off of a decision loss to Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 213 earlier this month. If he had won that bout, he would’ve secured an interim title, and would’ve likely been next in line to take on champion Michael Bisping.
Rockhold, on the other hand, hasn’t competed since June 2016 when he lost his title in stunning fashion to Bisping, who accepted the bout on short notice.
As far as Romero goes, Rockhold fired back, calling the Cuban a ‘p*ssy’. Rockhold also said that Romero didn’t want to fight five rounds:
@yoelromeromma you’re the pussy that didn’t wanna fight 5 rounds. September 16th was offered.
Romero than got in another shot, bringing up Rockhold’s loss to Bisping:
Remember when you were champion and you said no to fight me? That was 5 rounds. Remember the last time you took the easy fight? #ynuevopic.twitter.com/wZA0N1Q0e2
Yoel Romero hasn’t gotten over Michael Bisping’s antics at UFC 213. In between rounds as Romero made his way back to his corner, Bisping was seen in the crowd ripping the Cuban flag. “The Soldier of God” fell short in an interim middleweight title bout against Robert Whittaker. With “The Reaper” potentially sidelined until next […]
Yoel Romero hasn’t gotten over Michael Bisping’s antics at UFC 213. In between rounds as Romero made his way back to his corner, Bisping was seen in the crowd ripping the Cuban flag. “The Soldier of God” fell short in an interim middleweight title bout against Robert Whittaker. With “The Reaper” potentially sidelined until next […]
It’s been over a full year since we last saw former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold compete when he was shockingly knocked out by current champion Michael Bisping in the first round of their late replacement bout at June 2016’s UFC 199. Rockhold was then scheduled to face old foe Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, whom he […]
It’s been over a full year since we last saw former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold compete when he was shockingly knocked out by current champion Michael Bisping in the first round of their late replacement bout at June 2016’s UFC 199.
Rockhold was then scheduled to face old foe Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, whom he won the Strikeforce middleweight championship from, last November, but a knee injury forced him out. Since then, Rockhold has largely remained out of the limelight, healing from the knee injury and biding his time.
And when he did choose to finally speak out, it was against his employers at the UFC, against whom he said his fellow middleweights should organize a strike after the supremely skilled 185-pound fray was in a state of confusion due to Bisping chasing a bout with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and nursing his own knee injury.
Rumors of a bout with rising contender Gegard Mousasi swirled, but those ultimately fell by the wayside when “The Dreamcatcher” left the UFC and signed with Bellator MMA.
So Rockhold’s return was left in limbo; that is, until this evening (Sat., July 22, 2017) when the promotion announced that Rockhold will return against former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) middleweight and light heavyweight champion David Branch in the main event of UFC Fight Night Pittsburgh on September 16, 2017 from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rockhold was in attendance at UFC on FOX 25 from Uniondale, New York, and made an appearance when his fight was announced:
So the former champion will finally return after a long layoff as he attempts to climb back to a shot at the belt he held briefly. However, it’s safe to wonder just how far a win over Branch, who only recently returned to the UFC and is justifiably ranked well below the No. 3-ranked Rockhold.
A bout against recent interim title challenger Yoel Romero was also rumored for Rockhold’s return, but clearly couldn’t be negotiated. Is it a good idea for Rockhold to take what many feel will be a “tuneup” fight in his return, or will Branch prove that the former champ has actually signed on for a lose-lose-proposition?
When July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas lost its Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko main event the day of the fight, it seemed like the International Fight Week-ending card that with much of the wind taken out of its sails, was doomed to bring in a low pay-per-view buyrate . And according to recently […]
When July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas lost its Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko main event the day of the fight, it seemed like the International Fight Week-ending card that with much of the wind taken out of its sails, was doomed to bring in a low pay-per-view buyrate .
And according to recently released estimates, that’s true. A report from MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer put the usually successful midsummer card’s buys at a measly 125,000-150,000, continuing a trend of lackluster-at-best sales for the UFC in the new WME-IMG era. There has yet to be a single UFC pay-per-view event that drew a significant amount of buzz and buys yet this year, compared to last year when numerous cards surpassed the coveted one million-plus buy threshold.
It’s hard to argue that UFC 213 should have or could have done much better, however, as the card lost its original Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw bantamweight tile headliner, and an anticipated contest between Robbie Lawler and Donald Cerrone was moved to UFC 214 on July 29. The late replacement Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero fight for the interim middleweight title was a great fight to be certain; but at that point many fans – and all casual ones – had clearly been turned off by the dissipating event.
The low numbers put the card on par with the worst-selling UFC pay-per-views of all-time, joining the cards that dominant but low-selling flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson headlined. Obviously UFC 213 was never going to outsell last year’s UFC 200, even though that historical event also lost its main event right before it was scheduled to take place. Nunes headlined the card opposite former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, but the real attraction seemed to be Brock Lesnar’s return against Mark Hunt.
Last year seems like ancient history for the UFC, however, and the while the promotion is expected to bounce back with big numbers at next week’s UFC 214 from Anaheim, which features the long-overdue Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones rematch, is on point to be by far the best pay-per-view of this year with three title fights. And of course Conor McGregor will box Floyd Mayweather in their monstrous August 26 showdown that is expected to bring upwards of five million buys and countless eyeballs to MMA. It’s not solely a UFC fight though, as SHOWTIME Sports is producing the majority of it.
Regardless of the outcome, this cant be what WME-IMG envisioned when they paid $4.2 billion for the promotion during the height of McGregor and Ronda Rousey’s drawing power.
2017 is quickly getting away from the new owners, and even with a potential blockbuster like UFC 214 waiting in the immediate future, they’re going to need something special to bring the overall year out of the slums and back into the penthouse the UFC enjoyed last year.
And as recent trends in MMA has shown, that will probably be up to the return – or lack of – from one infamous Irishman. Megastars tend to sell huge these days, and the rest of the roster seems to draw increasingly concerning and dismal buyrates.
On Saturday, July 8, Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker put on a brilliant performance in the main event of UFC 213, winning the interim middleweight title against longtime contender Yoel Romero by unanimous decision. Whittaker and Romero closed out the depleted International Fight Week-ending card with an instant classic, and to hardcore fans, that more than […]
On Saturday, July 8, Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker put on a brilliant performance in the main event of UFC 213, winning the interim middleweight title against longtime contender Yoel Romero by unanimous decision.
Whittaker and Romero closed out the depleted International Fight Week-ending card with an instant classic, and to hardcore fans, that more than made up for the scrapped main event between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko.
With the victory, “The Reaper” won himself a guaranteed shot at middleweight champion Michael Bisping and shook up the division to its core. And let’s be honest, because after all, the UFC 185-pound landscape, although deeply talented with top contenders, has been in shambles ever since “The Count” shocked the mixed martial arts (MMA) world when he knocked out Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in June of last year.
The weight class that had been dominated for so long by Anderson “The Spider” Silva had a very clear structure for many years, one that went like this: become a contender, fight Silva, lose, get back in line.
Then one bad decision by Silva to clown the entire fight and one perfectly-timed left hook by Chris Weidman changed everything, and made Weidman the undisputed champion. It looked like Weidman, an All-American wrestler and crisp striker, would stay on top for a while; after all, he beat one of the all-time greats twice.
But his reign ended when he threw an ill-advised wheel kick at Rockhold and got his face smashed in. And we know how Rockhold lost the belt, which brings us back to Bisping.
Bisping is not a popular champion. He has never faced the top three contenders in the division and was the benefactor of good timing in his title shot against Rockhold after Weidman was forced to withdraw from their scheduled rematch with a neck injury.
His on-camera personality is brash and rude, even taunting Rockhold after knocking him out. His antics, like throwing the middleweight belt at Whittaker’s feet on Saturday night, reminds some UFC fans too much of pro-wrestling.
While some fans may argue that his personality comes from the desire to sell more pay-per-views (PPV), the main issue with Bisping so far has been his dodging of top contenders. His only title defense came against an aging Dan Henderson, who was ranked number 14 in the division at that time, in a very close fight at UFC 204 last October that almost saw Bisping knocked out twice.
Since then, the only other fight Bisping was going to take was against Georges St. Pierre, the welterweight legend somehow fighting for the middleweight title and pole-vaulting every contender waiting for their title shot. The fight with St. Pierre fell through, Bisping injured his knee, and the middleweight division was at a standstill.
Then, through the underbrush came “The Reaper.”
For a while, Whittaker had been a sleeper in the middleweight division who showed a lot of promise but wasn’t quite yet championship caliber. He had a fun fight with Derek Brunson last year, but hadn’t really broken through the top five contenders.
However, on April 15, the 26-year-old Australian destroyed Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, a perennial contender and one of the best in the division, with savage striking that left “Jacare” splayed on the canvas by the second round.
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The knockout propelled “Bobby Knuckles” to number three in the division and set up a clash with Romero, one of the scariest fighters on the UFC roster. Fast-forward three months later, and Romero has his first loss in the UFC and Whittaker is the new interim champ.
As of today, he’s guaranteed a crack at ‘The Count’ in order to unify the two middleweight belts. If Whittaker looks any bit as good as he did against Romero, Bisping could be in deep trouble.
If the UFC overlooks Whittaker and schedules Bisping for some other opponent such as St-Pierre, the backlash would be swift and fierce, but that is (hopefully) unlikely. If Whittaker beats Bisping and becomes the champion, the middleweight division could finally be untangled, as “Bobby Knuckles” has shown no hesitation when accepting fights. With no lack of contenders in the division, middleweight could turn into the division to watch, and Whittaker could be one of the best champions to watch.
The match ups for “The Reaper” are mouth-watering, but it all depends on the UFC, and – here’s the hard part – on Bisping, who may stand in the way of an exciting new prospect in the promotion. But if he owns up to his allegiance to defending the belt, “The Reaper” could come calling for the polarizing champ from across the Pond.
