Luke Rockhold rooting for Dan Henderson at UFC 204

It’s no secret that UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold have a very storied rivalry.

The pair first met in the Octagon in 2014 in Sydney, Australia in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: 55’. While Bisping had stated before the fight that he got the better of Rockhold in training in the past, it was Rockhold who emerged from the fight victorious, earning himself a second round submission win.

T

Bipsing bounced back from the loss by going on a 3-fight win streak that even saw him pick up a unanimous decision win over Anderson Silva in the main event of ‘UFC Fight Night: London’ earlier this year. Following his win over Silva, Bisping stepped in for Chris Weidman to fight Luke Rockhold in a rematch for the middleweight strap on just two weeks notice. Bisping went out to win the fight in the very first round by knocking Rockhold out cold.c

While Rockhold campaigned for an immediate rematch with Bisping, the UFC ultimately opted to book a showdown between Bisping and MMA veteran Dan Henderson for Bisping’s first title defense.

Ahead of that fight tonight, Rockhold spoke on The MMA Hour to discuss the fight, and why he’s torn on who he wants to win.

“I’m on both sides. I mean, of course I would love to fight Bisping. I would love to beat him.

“It sounds appealing, going out there and getting to finish that one. I put him away fairly easily the first time and I got caught the second time, and so I would love to go solidify who the better fighter is. And so, that would be nice, but I’m not going to hold onto it. I’m not going to hold onto that and make that be my dying desire, to have that fight. I hope Dan goes out there and wins. I’m a friend of Dan’s and I don’t really care if I get that as much. I’d rather have Dan go out there and put him to sleep. It would be sweet both ways.”

Rockhold is gearing up for a ‘UFC Fight Night 101’ scrap with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza on November 27th, where he hopes to once again emerge victorious over ‘Jacare’ and secure another middleweight title fight.