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Cape Town - Manchester’s pride and joy, Michael Bisping came into his long awaited middleweight title fight against Luke Rockhold on just 17-days notice and upset the champion with a devastating first round KO in front of a sold out Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday.
According to MMALatest.com, after a decade of blood, sweat and tears inside the Octagon ‘The Uimate Fighter’ winner was rewarded with a title shot after Chris Weidman had to pull out of the main event due to an injury. Coming into the bout on under 2-weeks notice the champion was a huge favourite to take home the win but the wily old veteran took his only shot at UFC glory by the scruff of the neck ending Luke Rockhold’s reign before it really began.
Bisping (29-7) has been on a really hot streak of late having won four of his last five over Cung Le, C.B Dollaway, Thales Leites and Anderson Silva with his only loss at the hands of the man he stunned on Saturday night. Bisping used his boxing to violently take the belt he has been dreaming about in every one of his 26 UFC bouts.
“I gotta be humble, even though i want to be an a**hole,” said Bisping in his post fight interview. “Thank you all for being here. I have always been a fighter.”
Rockhold (15-3) had his impressive winning streak which included wins over Costas Philippou, Tim Boetsch, Michael Bisping, Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman ended thanks to a big left hook. According to the former champion it was a mix of overconfidence and the desire to try something new which lead to the loss. “I believe i had control of that fight from the beginning,” Rockhold said. “I just overcommitted, and he caught me. Bisping’s a tough dude.”
For Bisping who believed UFC gold was in his “destiny” from day one he can finally send the ‘haters’ packing.
“This has been a lifetime's work and i always felt i was capable of doing this. I’ve had my ups and downs along the way and i understand why people didn’t believe in me because i lost some key fights and i accept that. But i knew deep down inside myself that i could still always do it; that’s why i took this fight on short notice. You know that defines me, i am a fighter. I shocked the world."
