Two years previous to this, Luke Rockhold had submitted Bisping in round two with a choke, and gone on to win the MW championship by defeating Chris Weidman.
The Rockhold/Weidman rematch was scheduled for June 4, but on May 17th, Chris Weidman pulled out of the fight with serious injuries, and Bisping was slotted in, on two weeks notice.
Bisping at this time was on a three fight win streak and had beaten the former champion and legendary fighter Anderson SIlva in his previous fight. For his part, Bisping was very confident, he had no doubt he could get the job done, despite losing the first fight to Luke. A long time UFC fighter, there was no doubt some UFC fans were pulling for Mike, who just was never able to string the right wins together to earn a title shot before.
Luke Rockhold was pretty dismissive, since he'd already beaten Bisping before, and had better scalps on his record.
This was the fight that did it for Mike. Through this win, he earned himself a Hall of Fame induction and basically a job for life. Dude validated his whole career in one single performance.
What was your thoughts in the lead up and the aftermath?
