On a night when the UFC honoured the late Muhammad Ali, Michael Bisping shook up the MMA world.
Bisping upset Luke Rockhold via first-round knockout in the UFC 199 main event Saturday to become the new middleweight champion.
The brash Brit took this fight on two weeks notice after Rockhold’s original opponent, former champ Chris Weidman, was forced to withdraw due to a neck injury. Bisping wasn’t supposed to walk away from UFC 199 as champion, but at the end of the day MMA has proven to be perhaps the most unpredictable sport out there, so should we really be surprised?
Bisping was throwing tight, crisp combinations and eventually clipped Rockhold, who overcommitted on a jab at the wrong time. A Bisping left hand sent the Californian to the canvas and a few follow-up punches had Rockhold staring up at the lights — just like Bisping had predicted earlier in the week.
Bisping became England’s first UFC champion and in the process tied Georges St-Pierre for most total victories in the promotion’s history.
Despite all the success he had during his 10-year UFC career prior to Saturday, Bisping was a massive underdog. It was completely warranted too, and not merely because he had little time to prepare. Bisping and Rockhold fought in November 2014 and Rockhold mopped the floor with the veteran. He dropped him with a head kick and choked him out with a one-arm guillotine.
Many expected Bisping would face a similar fate. When that didn’t happen, it just added to the shock value.
Here’s some of the best reaction to Bisping’s upset victory…
