UFC 199: Rockhold vs Bisping 2

[ColinBollocks]

Before I clicked the Bisping interview I read the comments and thought people were probably over doing the praise, but nah, that was bloody glorious. Bisping just gets it. As does Helwani, for that matter. Both knew the story to sell for the fight and combined masterfully to steer it in that direction. Before the past week I'd say I like Rockhold much more than Bisping, but old Michael has done brilliantly painting himself as the every man underdog type v the arrogant champion. Pretty incredible that this has very nearly got me as buzzing for the card as Weidman v Rockhold II.

[Supremo]

My buzz for Bisping vs. Rockhold 2 is way beyond what it was for Weidman vs. Rockhold 2. It's not even close. I like Chris Weidman. I'd like for him to win his belt back. But I love Michael Bisping. He's awesome. If he somehow wins the the belt I'll be over the moon.

[the_mole]

I started disliking Rockhold after Vitor Belfort beat him, he would just constantly moan about it and mention he was cheated even though he knew Belfort was on TRT Bisping had a moan but he didn't bang on about it in every interview.

 

He's a good looking confident guy but he brushes Weidman off as making excuses but agrees with his team mates when they are making excuses, like Cornier & Cain, you can't have it both ways.

 

I also dislike him for grabbing a drugged out of its mind Tiger by the balls and saying he is the daddy over in Thailand, try stepping in its cage when it's not on a million sedatives and see if your still the daddy.

[jimufctna24]

There's much more of a story with Bisping vs Rockhold than there is was with Weidman vs Rockhold. The latter was a straight rematch, and not much else. It's probably best left in the backburner. If Rockhold beat Weidman again, it would leave Weidman in the territory Rich Franklin was in after losing to Anderson twice. The UFC have a habit of spunking away rivalries in short spans. I.E - Cain vs JDS. 

 

Bisping is a 10 year UFC veteran, who's finally getting the title shot that most thought would allude him. He's coming in as the heavy underdog against a fighter who he's previously lost to. It also helps that Bisping is one of the most animated public speakers the UFC has at its disposal. There's a reason why they had him on TUF so many times. There's a lot of juice to it, which has been helped by Bisping's interviews in recent weeks.  

 

I dare say he's the fan favourite in this affair, which is amazing, as he was probably the most despised fighter in MMA from 2007-2009 (barring Lesnar). He was always popular in England, but he was hated in America after the Hamill fight. Before that, he was actually quite popular with the Americans, due to his run on TUF 3. I have to admit that I went with the pack. I liked him when he came on the scene, but went through periods of disliking him, before finally remembering why I liked him in the first place. 

 

If he somehow wins, it'll be a remarkable night. 

[TildeGuy~!]

Alex Caceres has stepped in for BJ Penn

[Egg Shen]

Just watched the Bisping interview, great stuff. If he somehow manages to pull this thing off (and i unfortunately can't see a way of him doing it) it'll surely be one of the great MMA stories/moments, what a guy.

[lambyUK]

It really is a shame that there isn't a path to victory for Bisping here. He doesn't have knock out power and on the ground Rockhold will swallow him up. 

 

We can only pray that Bisping somehow clips him like he did with Silva, and somehow gets the win with ground and pound. I can't even see a decision win either. Rockhold is too good on the feet as well. 

[Egg Shen]

yeh, hearing Bisping say that he doesn't have the gas to go 5 rounds and he plans on going in to take Rockhold out is kind of worrying, but you never know, if Bisping sits down on his punches and really goes for it he might clip Rockhold, anything can happen. I can't wait.

[wandshogun09]

Bisping's always been a phenomenal fight hyper but he's really been on fire this year. When it's a fight he's really, really up for and can sink his teeth into you can really tell how passionate he is about it. For all the shit luck he's had over the years - fighting PED users, losing narrow decisions etc - he was due a bit of good luck and this year he's had it. The two things he's been waiting for pretty much his entire UFC career were 1) a title shot and 2) the Anderson Silva fight. They were both mutually exclusive for so long because Anderson was the champion but it's finally happening for Bisping this year. 2016 is Bisping's year.

 

He's not going to beat Rockhold though sadly. Anything can happen in a fight, I suppose, but Bisping beating Rockhold is - to quote Gorilla Monsoon - highly unlikely. Bisping's a great fighter but Rockhold is a more advanced breed. Basically, Bisping's a pager, Rockhold's the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphone or whatever. Both do the same basic things, let you communicate with people etc. But one is just a much more updated, advanced and slicker version of the older model.

 

Rockhold just has too many tools for me. Plus he's more of an actual threat. It's not like Bisping has zero power. He's hurt enough people in enough fights and he's very accurate. He dropped Anderson, although that may be more a sign of Anderson's punch resistance diminishing than anything else. But he doesn't have that kind of fight changing power to where you'd even give him much of a 'puncher's chance'. He could, I guess, but it'd have to be an absolute one in a million perfectly landed, perfectly placed, perfectly timed shot that Rockhold was moving into at the same time or something.

 

Like everyone has said, all the roads to victory seem to be closed off for Bisping here. I was saying the same about Bisping's chances vs Anderson so I could be wrong again, but unlike Anderson, Rockhold's in his prime. I can't really see what Bisping brings to this fight that he's improved on since their 2014 fight either. The only thing different is he'll have the confidence coming off the Anderson win but that won't matter surely. Confidence was never the problem with Bisping. He's always been overflowing with confidence. Rockhold handled him fairly comfortably in 2014 and I genuinely think Rockhold has only gotten better since then. Couple that with Bisping not even having a full camp for this and I'm really struggling to see how he pulls this off.

 

I'd love to be wrong though. If hell freezes over and Bisping is somehow sitting there with the UFC belt in front of him at the post-fight presser next week I'll be over the moon. It'd be up there with the best moments of 2016 whatever happens in the next 7 months.

[ColinBollocks]

Like the Rocky comparison I love so much, I think if Bisping can go just go the distance with Rockhold then that's a brilliant achievement and who knows how the judges score things. As Bisping keeps pointing out, nobody is expecting him to do much, particularly because he's only been training for a few weeks.

 

Realistically, Rockhold could be smashing him early doors.

[David]

Like everyone has said, all the roads to victory seem to be closed off for Bisping here. I was saying the same about Bisping's chances vs Anderson so I could be wrong again, but unlike Anderson, Rockhold's in his prime. I can't really see what Bisping brings to this fight that he's improved on since their 2014 fight either. The only thing different is he'll have the confidence coming off the Anderson win but that won't matter surely. Confidence was never the problem with Bisping. He's always been overflowing with confidence. Rockhold handled him fairly comfortably in 2014 and I genuinely think Rockhold has only gotten better since then. Couple that with Bisping not even having a full camp for this and I'm really struggling to see how he pulls this off.

 

I'd love to be wrong though. If hell freezes over and Bisping is somehow sitting there with the UFC belt in front of him at the post-fight presser next week I'll be over the moon. It'd be up there with the best moments of 2016 whatever happens in the next 7 months.

 

If Bisping rewatches that Anderson fight I'm not sure where he takes much confidence from it, as he got skelped if we're honest. 

 

 

I don't care what anyone says, taking a beating like that will affect a fighter, and he's coming off the worst beating he's ever taken.

 

He should, realistically, have hung them up there & then. 

[ColinBollocks]

In some ways you're right David. As Rogan likes to put it, fighters only have so much credit and every war takes a chunk of that. However, I suppose where the confidence comes from is he went the distance with Silva, took some heavy punishment, yet won. He knows he can overcome adversity even when faced with a Silva, albeit a declining Silva. Winning the biggest match of your career is a huge boost of confidence; he achieved one of his big MMA goals.

 

Also, if he hung them up he would have never got his title shot, so I disagree there. He may never get a better winning moment than beating Silva, but he's currently ranked number 4 in his division, having won the 4 of his last 5 fights (having won 3 in a row). Bisping has mentioned he thinks he's getting better all the time too.

[David]

Bisping can say he thinks he's getting better all the time, but I don't think he honestly believes that.

 

He's older, he's slower, his eye is damaged, he's taken a beating from a guy that most consider to be past his best, and he's going into a fight with a champion who manhandled him last time and he looked considerably bigger on fight night if I remember correctly.

[Egg Shen]

yeh, that's the kind of thing all aging fighters say, skill-wise they probably believe they are, it's the slowing down of the body they can't really control.

[David]

Yeah, the stuff Bisping is coming out with, I'm not sure if he's saying it to get inside the head of Rockhold or if he's trying to convince himself.

 

I still stand by the claim that him beating Anderson in front of a UK crowd is going to be as good as it gets for him. That would have been the ideal moment for him to call it a day, but we all know fighters don't do that most of the time. They fight until they get smashed up then they announce their retirement on Twitter.