Luke Rockhold impressed in his main-event fight against Michael Bisping, submitting “The Count” in the second round at UFC Fight Night 55 in Sydney.
The American Kickboxing Academy standout blasted Bisping with a headkick on the way to securing a guillotine choke for the finish at 0:57 of the second round.
Bisping was the more active fighter in the first round, pouring out a higher volume of strikes. Rockhold found the most success landing powerful body kicks, but didn’t match Bisping’s quantity for the first five minutes. A cut over Bisping’s left eye momentarily stopped action after an accidental headbutt, but the gash did little to stop Bisping.
Rockhold loaded up a headkick in the second round, dropping Bisping on the floor against the cage. As Bisping attempted to get up, Rockhold swarmed in with strikes and found an opportunity to secure his opponent’s neck and apply a guillotine choke. After transitioning to full mount, Rockhold applied heavy pressure on the guillotine, forcing Bisping to tap.
Following the win, Rockhold said he would fight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in a rematch, guaranteeing that he would beat him again on the way to a UFC title shot. Souza and Rockhold fought in Strikeforce, a bout that saw the latter fighter winning a unanimous decision for the promotion’s middleweight title.
With the win at UFC Fight Night, Rockhold improves to 3-1 inside the Octagon and puts himself in prime position for consideration as the No. 1 contender to the middleweight title.
