On Wednesday, UFC president Dana White announced the new UFC 199 main event and the person replaced was Chris Weidman. Now, Luke Rockhold (15-2) will be making his first title defense against Michael Bisping (28-7) on June 4 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Weidman (12-1) was forced out due to a “large extrusion herniation” in his neck; at least that's what his Facebook post says. White sympathised with Weidman stating, “It’s always devastating when you are getting ready for a guy for that long and two weeks before the event he has to pull out.”
Despite the fued built up between Rockhold and Weidman prior to their rematch, the former strikeforce champion tweeted his support for Weidman. White said, “Obviously [Rockhold] is bummed out.”
For those who don’t know, Luke Rockhold has won five straight since losing his UFC debut to Vitor Belfort in 2013. Ronaldo Souza was the one who recently defeated Vitor Belfort. So technically, this was supposed to be Souza’s shot, if not Weidman’s.
White agreed as he said, “Who makes the most sense is obviously Jacare Souza, who just fought Saturday in a dominating performance.” But, Dana White announced that even he is injured from his UFC 198 fight and “he's going to need surgery and is going to be out for a while. The next guy after Vitor Belfort and behind him in line is Michael Bisping.”
Coming back to our last minute replacement Michael Bisping. Now, Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping have a history. After Bisping's last headliner fight loss on November 2014, he has won three straight wins. This is second shot at Luke Rockhold and the trash talk continues which makes this match-up even more interesting.
In Dana White’s words, “He (Rockhold) is very excited to fight Bisping.They don't like each other. As soon as the fight fell out with Weidman yesterday, those two started going back and forth on social media.”
Now, it’s past social media, straight to the cage. And the odds are in the reigning champion’s favour. Was this a good match up?
