Two title fights. Two champions heavily favored. Only one walked out of the octagon still in possession of the belt.
After Dominick Cruz successfully defended at bantamweight, “The Dominator” living up to his nickname in a slick unanimous-decision win over nemesis Urijah Faber in the co-main event of UFC 199 on Saturday night, the crowd at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., witnessed an exhilarating upset in the evening’s marquee fight.
Michael Bisping, who had been chasing a title shot for the entirety of the decade he’s been in the UFC, and who came into this fight on two weeks’ notice as an injury replacement challenger, knocked down Luke Rockhold with a left hook and finished him on the mat at 3:36 of the first round to seize the middleweight championship.