Mötet mellan Michael Bisping (25-7) och Luke Rockhold (13-2) på UFC Fight Night 55 gick av stapeln under natten till idag, lördag. Ingen av dem har hållit tillbaka på orden om varandra men Rockhold berättade att han aldrig egentligen siktade på en första-rond vinst, utan att många av hans uttalanden endast var för att hypa fighten.
“I do my homework, and I know Michael’s been in the business for a long time, and I’ve been watching him fight, so I knew how to approach it; I knew what he would bring, and I knew what I could do. I just wanted to take my time and not be overaggressive and try to finish in the first round, like I was talking about. I knew it was a possibility, but I was going to be patient. That’s the way I’ve done it the last three fights, and that’s the way it’s going to be. Understand his range and find my timing.” sa Rockhold efter sin submission av Bisping i andra ronden.
Enligt Bisping så känner han att han tappade vinsten redan vid skallningen som resulterade i ett kort doktor-stopp.
“I’ve got to be careful about how I word this, because he beat me fair and square, but I can’t really remember anything after the headbutt, to be honest. But that’s the way it goes. We’re in there and we’re punching and we’re kicking, and heads clash. I doubt it was intentional. But it certainly did affect things.”
Bisping har efter förlusten inga planer att hänga upp handskarna.
“I still love what I do, I still love this. I’m a fighter, I’ll always be a fighter. As long as there’s a beat in my heart, I’ll still fight. I love doing this.”
För Rockhold så har han siktet på att nå en titelfight, även om han vet att det är en bit att vandra och på frågan om vem han skulle vilja möta svarar han: “I don’t care. I’ll fight whoever. I’ll fight again. The title fight is a long ways away, and things need to happen. Whether it’s (Ronaldo) ‘Jacare’ (Souza); (Lyoto) Machida has a fight coming up, too. I think we’ve separated ourselves as the No. 1 contenders, and I’d be glad to prove myself against them.”
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