Bisping on Fresh Cut Above Left Eye: 'It's Nothing at All to Be Worried About'
Fans itching to see the feud between Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold culminate in the Octagon breathed a sigh of relief when Bisping squashed the notion that a newly formed cut over his eye will affect his performance Friday.
Ninth-ranked UFC middleweightย Bisping, who will face fifth-ranked Rockhold at UFC Fight Night 55 in Sydney, suffered a laceration over his left eye while grappling with a training partner earlier this week. The cut required three stitches.ย
Bisping nixed the idea that the fresh gash will hinder him in his five-round main-event bout with the former Strikeforce middleweight kingpin.ย
"(Itโs) nothing at all to be worried about," said Bispingย at the pre-fight press conference for the eventย (per MMAJunkie.com).ย "Heโs not going to land a glove on me. I could have had stitches all over my face. I had a tiny little cut. It was a clash of heads."
The ever-confident Bispingย then indicated that he believes Rockhold will attempt to take the fight to the ground early by saying, "For all of Lukeโs talk, Iโm pretty sure heโs going to shoot a takedown in the first round, so I was working on my takedown defense and (had) a minor clash of heads. But as I said, no problem on (fight) night.โ
Rockhold retorted Bisping's claims with an equally self-assured response.
"I havenโt practiced takedowns at all this whole training camp. Iโm focused on the standup game, and thatโs where itโs going to start and where itโs going to end.ย I donโt care who Michaelโs sparring with. If heโs getting beat up like that, heโs in big trouble. Look at me. Iโm sparring with Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier and the best guys in the world and the heaviest hitters (at American Kickboxing Academy). ... I'm looking pretty clean. He better put some grease on that eye.
"
The Count, who holds a 15-6 record, has lost two of his last four fights and three of his last six.
Bisping won his last bout via fourth-round TKO over Cung Le in the main event of UFC Fight Night 48 in August.
Bisping has more UFC fights under his belt (21) than any other middleweight on the roster. Only former longtime champ Anderson Silva has more wins (16) in the UFC as a middleweight.
Rockhold dropped his promotional debut when he got KO'd by Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8 in May 2013. He has since earned back-to-back wins, TKO'ing Costas Philippou in the first round at UFC Fight Night 35 in January before submitting Tim Boetsch in the first round at UFC 172 in April.
The main card will be aired on UFC Fight Pass, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. The prelims will begin on Fight Pass at 7 p.m. ET.
