The UFC Fight Night event scheduled for Australia on November 8th, 2014 will feature a Middleweight match-up between Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping. Look for Rockhold, who has won his lat two fights in a row in impressive fashion to be favored when the line hits the sport books, however with Bisping’s following in the UK, the line could move drastically one way or the other.
Bisping is 25-6 overall and he has a 15-6 record in the UFC. He has lost to top shelf guys, and is generally considered to be a shade below championship level. Despite twice winning 4 fights in a row in the UFC, he has always been beaten by top names.
Against Cung Le, Bisping did look good. He looked aggressive, and prior to the fight, he flashed his personality a bit, and he is a real good villain. Le, a consummate professional, received the full brunt of Bisping’s fists in the ring and his mouth outside of it, and it was a good reminder of why most people hate Bisping.
So what is at stake here for Rockhold is a spot among the UFC’s elite. Rockhold is just 2-1 still in the UFC, and he is looking to erase the bitter loss to Vitor Belfort from his immediate past. For his part, and for his camp’s part, Rockhold will tell you that he is an elite fighter at Middleweight, but the loss to Belfort snapped a 9 fight winning streak, and Rockhold still has just 14 career fights, so he still has to accomplish something in the UFC before he can be called an elite fighter.
Bisping is the doorman to the top 5 guys in the weight class, and Rockhold will find that after defeating Bisping, he has more work to do to be considered top 2 or be in contention for a title match. Rockhold does hold a win over ‘Jacare’ Souza, perhaps the UFC’s most impressive Middleweight right now this side of Chris Weidman himself, but that was 3 years ago now, and Souza has succeeded where Rockhold has failed, and that is he has beaten everyone put in front of him.
Rockhold will win this fight, ending the brief return to relevance for Bisping that he earned by taking out Cung Le. But beating a guy who has never gotten a title shot after more than 20 UFC fights will mean that Rockhold has a lot more work to do.
