Welcome to FightLine’s live coverage of UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping 2.
Tonight’s card comes to us from The Forum just outside Los Angeles. It marks the fifth time that the UFC has hosted an event in Los Angeles County.
In the headline bout, Luke Rockhold defends his middleweight title against Michael Bisping. Originally, Rockhold was set to face former champion Chris Weidman, but a neck injury sidelined Weidman and opened the door for Bisping to compete for his first UFC title in 10 years.
Rockhold (15-2) earned a 2014 second round submission victory over Bisping and has won five straight. He has topped the likes of Lyoto Machdia, Tim Boetsch, Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza during his career.
Bisping (28-7) is a former Ultimate Fighter winner and is coming off the biggest win of his career, besting former champion Anderson Silva. “The Count” is 6-3 over his last nine, defeating Thales Leites, C.B. Dollaway and Cung Le during that stretch.
Another championship match is set in the co-main event, as Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber collide over the bantamweight title. This marks the third meeting between the two, with each holding a win over the other.
Cruz (21-1) returned from a year-long layoff in January to defeat T.J. Dillashaw and reclaim the UFC title that he never lost. “The Dominator” was stripped of the belt following a series of injuries. He holds wins over UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, Scott Jorgensen and Joseph Benavidez on his resume.
Faber (33-8) is 3-1 over his last four, but is 0-3 in UFC title fights. He was defeated via decision by Cruz in 2011 and came up short twice vs. Renan Barao. “The California Kid” is a former WEC champion, like Cruz.
The rest of the pay-per-view main card features Max Holloway putting his eight-fight win streak on the line vs. Ricardo Lamas, Dan Henderson meeting Hector Lombard in a middleweight meeting of veterans and lightweights Dustin Poirier and Bobby Green kicking off the show.
Brian Ortega-Clay Guida has moved into the FOX Sports 1 prelim main event after BJ Penn was removed. The other FS1 prelims include Beneil Dariush-James Vick, Jessica Penne-Jessica Andrade and Cole Miller-Alex Caceres.
The UFC Fight Pass prelims kickoff the night at 6 p.m. with four fights. Sean Strickland faces Tom Breese, Jonathan Wilson meets Luiz Henrique da Silva, Kevin Casey battles Elvis Mutapcic and Polo Reyes goes up against Dong Hyun Kim.
FightLine’s live coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET on the following pages.
The post UFC 199: Results From The Forum appeared first on MMA Convert.