Winning the belt on a short notice fight
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UFC 199
UFC 199
Entering UFC 199, many people considered Michael Bisping just a gatekeeper fighter, someone who was good but not quite ever enough to win the title. Due to an injury to Chris Weidman, Bisping stepped in to fight for the Middleweight title on seventeen days' notice. Michael had a record of 28-7; his opponent was the 15-2 champion, Luke Rockhold. At 37 years old, Bisping wouldn't have many, if any, other shots at the title left. Another thing is that Michael lost to Luke less than two years ago.
Despite all these circumstances against him, Bisping pulled off one of the greatest upsets, knocking out Rockhold in the first round.
Quotes
I’ve wanted a world title fight my entire life, I get it on two weeks’ notice in this kind of situation, I’m gonna lose this fight, and the whole world’s gonna say, ‘Told you, he was never that good anyway, was he?'
Michael Bisping
References
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Michael Bisping reflects on defeating Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 for middleweight title
On 17 days’ notice, Bisping received an unlikely chance to fight for the middleweight title at UFC 199 as a short-notice replacement after Chris Weidman had to pull out of the fight against the champion Luke Rockhold. It was a chance he spent his entire career looking for and it finally came out of nowhere.
MMA Junkie
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The Upset That Shocked the World: How Michael Bisping Beat Luke Rockhold
Long after astute observers had written him off, following years of being the biggest name to never fight for UFC gold, the British superstar clocked middleweight champion Luke Rockhold with a solid left hand, then did it again, completing one of the most improbable career resurgences the sport has ever seen.
Bleacher Report
