Rockhold Wants To See Henderson Put Bisping To Sleep
After surrendering his title in brutal fashion to Michael Bisping, whom he had beaten back in 2014, at June’s UFC 199, Luke Rockhold made it clear that he wanted a trilogy bout with “The Count”. He wasn’t given his wish, however, and Bisping will defend his title against Dan Henderson tonight (October 8, 2016) in the main event of UFC 204 from Manchester, England.
As far as tonight’s fight goes, Rockhold is torn on who he would like to win. While he would like to see a friend in Henderson put Bisping ‘to sleep’, he’d also like to get another chance at “The Count” for the title:
“”I’m on both sides,” Rockhold told Ariel Helwani recently during an in-studio appearance on The MMA hour. “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.”
While it seems as if the masses are picking Bisping to win, Henderson’s patented right hand can never be counted out. After all, it was that right hand that Henderson used to score one of the most iconic knockouts of all-time when he and Bisping met for the first time at UFC 100. Either way, “Hendo” has sworn that tonight will be the last time we see him in the Octagon win, lose or draw.
Rockhold admitted that he was ‘surprised’ to see the UFC grant Henderson the shot given the fact that he’s hell-bent on retiring:
“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “I was surprised, I thought that might deter them from making that choice, but he stood firm to what he was saying and they granted him the shot, so good for Dan.”
Rockhold is set to rematch Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza next month with a title shot potentially looming in the balance. If he can get by “Jacare” and earn a title shot, who do you expect him to face?
