Michael Bisping calls for Karate Combat trilogy bout against Luke Rockhold: “I would love to!”
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is down to fight Luke Rockhold one final time.
‘The Count’ had many, many rivals in his historic career. However, there were few bigger and more important to his career than Luke Rockhold. In November 2014, Michael Bisping faced the future UFC middleweight champion in Australia. In their first meeting, Rockhold largely dominated, scoring a second-round submission win.
However, they met again less than two years later. After Chris Weidman was forced out of a title fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in June 2016, Michael Bisping stepped up. On two weeks’ notice, the longtime contender shocked the world with a first-round knockout. While the rivalry between the two wasn’t over, they never fought again.
Eight years later, both men are retired from MMA. However, Luke Rockhold continues to compete in other martial arts and recently picked up a win in Karate Combat. Fighting in Dubai over the weekend, the former UFC champion scored a second-round knockout win over Joe Schilling. With a performance like that, Michael Bisping is down to face his rival one more time.
UFC analyst Michael Bisping is interested in facing Luke Rockhold in Karate Combat
‘The Count’ discussed the possible trilogy fight in a recent edition of the ‘Believe You Me’ Podcast with Anthony Smith. There, Michael Bisping stated that fans had told him in a live chat recently that he should fight Luke Rockhold again in Karate Combat. To the former UFC champion, that sounds like a pretty good time.
“Luke Rockhold, I was doing a live [chat] and everyone was like ‘You’ve got do the trilogy,'” Michael Bisping stated to Anthony Smith during a recent podcast. “I’ll do Karate Combat against Luke Rockhold, I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I will have a trilogy with Luke Rockhold in Karate Combat, I would love to. This has gotten momentum a bit too quickly, let me see my hip doctor first.”
He continued, “I’m joking but I’d do it. One hundred percent, I would. Yeah, well done to Luke [in his recent fight], fair play man. Fair play.”
For what it’s worth, this is far from the first time that Michael Bisping has teased a return to fighting. In the years since his 2019 retirement, ‘The Count’ has repeatedly teased a potential move to the boxing ring against Jake Paul. However, despite lengthy talks between the two, they’ve been unable to make a deal for a professional fight.
What do you make of these comments from the former UFC middleweight champion? Do you want to see Michael Bisping vs. Luke Rockhold 3?
