Luke Rockhold vs Michael Bisping 2 | Who wins?

Luke Rockhold vs Michael Bisping 2

Luke Rockhold (15-2) and Michael Bisping (28-7) (which my iMac keeps auto correcting into Michael Lisping) square off again for the UFC Middleweight Title at UFC 199 tomorrow night. Michael Bisping gets his first title shot in 10 years of being in the UFC. Bisping is taking this fight on 2 weeks notice as Chris Weidman had to pull out of the fight with a neck injury.

What happened the first time these guys fought?

Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping fought back on November 8th, 2014. This first fight was all Rockhold. Rockhold was the much larger man and almost looked to be a full weight class over Bisping. Every strike landed by Rockhold was having a visible affect on Bisping and knocking him backwards from the power. Rockhold was moving forward the entire fight putting Bisping on the defensive.

In the 2nd Round, Rockhold landed a left head kick that dropped Bisping. When Bisping fell to the ground, Rockhold punched Bisping in the body to get Bisping to drop his guard to his body and open up his neck. Rockhold dove on a guillotine, rolled Bisping over and mounted him, and finished the choke with one hand. The announcer said it was offensive to finish someone in that fashion.

Rating: 9 out of 10

This brings us to Luke Rockhold vs Michael Bisping 2.

What Worries me about Bisping?

1) Michael Bisping was off filming a movie, but claims he was keeping himself in shape. What kind of shape is “movie shape?”

2) If the fight doesn’t go perfect, it affects Bisping for the rest of the fight. We saw that most recently when Bisping fought Anderson Silva. Bisping lost his mouthpiece, and signaled to the ref to replace it. When that happened, Anderson Silva landed a huge flying knee that dropped Bisping and nearly ended the fight.

This also happened in the first fight against Rockhold, where there was an unintentional head-butt. Bisping was worried more about the ref than about fighting Rockhold.

3) Bisping has not evolved as a fighter. You know exactly what you are getting when you fight him. A guy with a ton of cardio, who’s going to use his movement to get in and out with his strikes.

Advantages for Bisping

1) Nothing to lose – The most dangerous fighters (see Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor)
2) Cardio – Does not get tired

What Worries me about Rockhold?

1) Is he over confident and did he coast these last 2 weeks? If he did, the hard work has already been put in.

2) He starts extremely slow and gets hit often in the first round. It seems to take him a few minutes to find his range and get his timing down.

Advantages for Rockhold

1) Training Partners – Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier
2) Power – Can knock anyone in the division out
3) Kicking game – Throws all types of kicks, front leg, question mark kicks
4) Ground game – His top game is top notch

Fun Fact

Dan Henderson is also fighting on this card. I’m having flashbacks of UFC 100 #NeverForget.
Bisping Caillou

Predictions

Matt– I think this fight is all Rockhold again. I don’t see what Bisping can do differently this time around to beat Rockhold. With exception to blitz Rockhold early and try to overwhelm him for a TKO. Rockhold has more tools and I’m picking him to win via 2nd Round Rear Naked Choke.

Ingo – Michael Bisping via Decision.

The Magic 8 Ball shows disdain for Luke Rockhold and picks Michael Bisping to win.