With Chris Weidman being forced out of his headlining UFC 199 title rematch with Luke Rockhold on June 4th in Los Angeles, the UFC have handed Michael Bisping the chance to fulfill his dream of fighting for the title.
Bisping steps in on just over two weeks notice to fight the champion, who he has fought in the past, with Rockhold submitting him early in the second round with a guillotine choke at UFC Fight Night 55 in Australia in 2014.
Even after that loss, the former TUF season 3 winner Bisping never gave up on his dream of becoming a champion, and has since compiled a three-fight winning streak.
Along the way he defeated CB Dollaway and Thales Leites, but undoubtedly the biggest win of his career came in his last fight at UFC Fight Night 84 in his native England back in February when he defeated former champion Anderson Silva by unanimous decision.
That left ranked No.4 in the division, and with Weidman out and current No.2 contender Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza having just fought this past weekend at UFC 198, ‘The Count’ was the obvious choice to step in and take this fight.
Rockhold will be coming in high on confidence for this encounter given his past performance against Bisping, which formed part of his current five-fight winning streak that culminated with a fourth round TKO victory over Weidman at UFC 194 in December.
With Rockhold Vs Bisping now official, UFC 199 is now complete once again with a second title fight between bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber serving as the co-main event of the evening.
