Bisping, the late replacement for UFC 199’s main event, is coming off a narrow victory over Silva.
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Bisping will face the Santa Cruz County champion, who has gone from Strikeforce to UFC and won plenty of times along the way.
Meanwhile, Luke Rockhold is looking to defend his middleweight title for the first time against a foe he’s already beaten in Michael Bisping.
In what could certainly serve as its own standalone main event, No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound fighter Dominick Cruz defends his bantamweight title against longtime nemesis Urijah Faber in a grudge match five years in the making.
There’s no disagreement over what happened the first time Cruz and Faber shared a cage.
Foster and Novitzky plan to interview the fighters throughout the process, including after their 4 p.m. Friday appearance at a staged, televised weigh-in for fans inside the Forum, and after their bouts.
Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is basically a real-life version of James Bond.
That first battle didn’t go so well for the man known as “The Count”.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champ Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was the leading candidate but an injury forced UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to cross his name off the list. Instead, Rockhold steadily controlled the octagon and then landed a couple big kicks, the last of which had Bisping on his back in the second round. Rockhold via TKO (round one).
While some may dismiss the Bisping-Rockhold rematch as being one out of necessity rather than deserving ability there are a number of factors that add some interest to this story. “I didn’t turn any fight down”, he said.
“This will not be his fairy tale”, Rockhold said.
“More comfortably, you know”, Rockhold said. “You know, I lost those fights fair and square but there were mitigating circumstance”. From there the expletives flew as UFC president Dana White tried valiantly to keep the two rivals separated ahead of their rematch on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 199. He says he is a fresher fighter because he hasn’t been going through an eight-week camp, and he says his underdog status benefits him. Left, right, I don’t know. “It’s gonna be fun for me”.
Bisping never gave up on his dream to wear a UFC title belt, but realized that he had faltered just often enough to make it unlikely.
In the other Championship fight, Urijah Faber will attempt to take the Bantamweight crown from Dominick Cruz, in what is the pair’s third UFC bout. Lombard, who competed at the 2000 Sydney games in Judo, went on to claim a Bellator title before signing with the UFC in 2012.
‘You have nothing but excuses and you’re going to have more excuses when I beat you’. “And he dodged that like the plague on goal”.
Cruz and Faber will settle the score on Saturday after Cruz defeated Faber in their most recent bout in 2011 via unanimous decision. He was later stripped of the title after tearing his quad in early 2014, beginning his arduous journey back to the top. “He’s going to be a great test and I look forward to passing that test”, Breese said.
“I beat him up; he did not beat me up”, Faber said. I outwrestled him and struck him. Any fighter who missed weight on the second attempt would then be fined 20-percent of his or her purse. “This is the opportunity that I wanted against this guy”.
“I don’t care about insurance policies”, Rockhold said. He had one round with a little bit of control.
“Because I was in such good shape and I was feeling better than I ever felt”.
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One thing hasn’t changed in the 18 months since Rockhold versus Bisping I, the California-based Brit again has an army of supporters.
