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Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold appear to have buried the hatchet as the two were spotted having small talk and sharing a hearty laugh together in a gym.
A video uploaded on coach Jason Parillo's Instagram account shows Michael Bisping and Parillo's new student Luke Rockhold exchanging pleasantries and a warm hug before dispersing to go about their usual business.
The MMA community has a reason to be surprised at the visual because the former UFC champions were sworn enemies at the peak of their career, unable to stand each other's presence.
After hinting at retirement in October 2019, Luke Rockhold announced his return to competition in August 2020. To the surprise of many, Luke Rockhold joined Michael Bisping's former Coach Jason Parillo to prepare for his return to the competition.
Rockhold's transition raised a lot of eyebrows because Jason Parillo is Michael Bisping's longtime coach who prepared The Count for the UFC 199 title fight against Rockhold. Michael Bisping won the fight by first-round knockout to cut the latter's title reign short.
The loss marked the beginning of Rockhold's competitive decline and It was also the one that stung the most because of the bad blood between the pair. But Jason Parillo's video suggests that both fighters have moved on and no longer harbor negative feelings about each other.
A brief history of the beef between Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold
Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping were top middleweight contenders who had the common goal to become UFC champions. The pair first fought in November 2014. Michael Bisping's trash-talking persona visibly irked Rockhold in the build-up but the AKA standout completely outclassed Michael Bisping in the fight and scored a second-round submission win.
After winning the middleweight title at UFC 194 from Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold was scheduled to meet the former champ in a rematch at UFC 199 in July 2016. Michael Bisping stepped in to fight for the title on short notice after an injured Chris Weidman pulled out. The Count's verbal attacks on Rockhold were on full display once again but he was able to walk the talk in the rematch. The Brit became the undisputed middleweight champion by defeating his adversary via first-round knockout in one of the biggest upsets of all time.
Bisping's post-fight celebration displeased Rockhold, who then launched verbal attacks on Michael Bisping in the post-fight press conference which was followed by a back and forth between the two.
"That guy is such a d*ck. You show your true colours after the fight. The guy comes up to me and goes, 'you know where you are?' I f**king picked you above the canvas (after I won) and gave you the respect. That guy's a piece of sh*t and I'm going to f**king come kill him," Luke Rockhold said.
Rockhold pursued the trilogy fight throughout the remainder of Michael Bisping's fighting career but the bout never came to fruition.
The bitter rivalry between the former champions was considered as the one that never got closure until coach Parillo's video surfaced.
