UFC 199: What happened when Michael Bisping challenged Luke Rockhold for Middleweight Championship?
UFC 199 took place on June 4, 2016, and was headlined by two big re-matches.
A Middleweight title clash between outspoken Brit, Michael Bisping and the UFC champion, Luke Rockhold marked the second time the pair had fought, having also competed at UFC Fight Night 55, in November 2014, when Rockhold had defeated Bisping with a choke.
The result this time, however, was different. Bisping, surprised many when he didn't get frustrated by Rockhold's solid defences and instead persevered until he found a way through less than four minutes into the fight.
A huge left hook floored the champion. After Rockhold clambered his way back up to a vertical base, Bisping smashed him again. With that, Bisping became UFC Middleweight Champion; the first and only title of his long UFC career.
In the second big re-match of the night, UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz defeated veteran Urijah Faber in the final fight of their trilogy.
Cruz put forth one of the finest MMA performances ever as he consistently stayed one step ahead of his legendary opponent. Faber was no passenger in the bout, however, as he landed plenty of kicks and right hands to the champion in five rounds of superb action. However, despite the entertainment, there was only ever one winner. Cruz had his hand raised as he won via Unanimous Decision.
Max Holloway and Ricardo Lamas traded shots in another blow away encounter on a terrific night of action.
Holloway dominated the opening exchanges but Lamas showed brilliant heart to stay in the contest. As the fight wore on, Holloway continued to exact his will over Lamas, but the tough "Bully" could not be put away. Holloway would win but only via Unanimous Decision in a hugely enthralling fight.
Dan Henderson showed the world he was far from washed up as a top line UFC fighter, completely dominating Hector Lombard, smashing him with a sick back elbow to the temple which laid Lombard out for a very, very long time.
The contest was a chaotic display of striking combinations as both fighters exchanged big time punches. Just brilliant, insanely entertaining action.
In the final main card fight, Bobby Green paid the price for trash talking to his opponent, Dustin Poirier. Poirier, picked his spot when Green lowered his defences to insult him. Poirier took great delight in knocking Green out in a hugely fun opener to the show.
That was UFC 199. Top to bottom, one of the very best cards the company has ever produced. It didn't do badly on pay per view either, pulling a respectable 283,000 buys.