UFC 199 Main Card Review

To the surprise of everyone expect the staunchest Bisping supporter, ‘The Count’ finally achieved his dream of holding a UFC title last night and it only took him just over three minutes. After ten years in the UFC Michael Bisping finally found his power and it came at the perfect time for the Brit in what was his biggest fight to date. After some feeling out exchanges between the two fighters early on in the first round, Bisping rocked Rockhold with a left hook, followed it up with another left hook and whilst the middleweight champion was propped up against the cage, landed a flurry of shots that forced the stoppage and crowned the first ever British UFC champion, exactly 10 years to the date of his first UFC fight.

Bravo Michael, Bravo.

Urijah Faber’s quest for UFC gold continues and whilst Dominick Cruz is at the top of the mountain, it’s hard to see how Faber will ever get there. After a close first round in which both fighters were looking to establish some superiority, it was Cruz who took the fight by the horns in the second. After dropping Faber early in the second round, Cruz started to walk down Faber and appeared to be able to land with a frequency and accuracy that Faber struggled to keep up with and defend against throughout the second round. The third round opened up with Faber looking more aggressive and pushing forward but after catching a right straight to the jaw, momentum swung back to Cruz and he continued his relentless picking apart of Faber. Round four was all Cruz with Faber really struggling with the movement and elusiveness of Cruz. Cruz looked to have Faber close to finished midway through the round but credit to Faber, he weathered the storm and took it in to a fifth round although, not much changed in that round. Cruz continued the clinic of Faber but this time mixed in some takedowns that solidified his victory over Faber and ended Faber’s UFC title ambitions.

Max Holloway is one seriously talented fighter. After spending the first round picking Lamas apart on the feet with superior boxing and excellent knees to the body, the Hawaiian spent the second round dominating the grappling exchanges with Lamas as well as landing some beautiful punches to Lamas face when they were standing. Holloway looked like he had the fight finished late in to the second round after locking in a modified guillotine late in the round but to no avail. The third round didn’t contain as much action as the first two until the final stanza between the two, with both swinging for the fences but Holloway did enough to win the third round and walk away with a unanimous decision win and his NINTH win in a row.

Dan Henderson and Hector Lombard threw down some serious leather in the first round of their fight, with Henderson looking to have the better of Lombard but after rushing in, Henderson ended up getting thrown by Lombard and eating some ground and pound. Henderson managed to get back to his feet but Lombard continued to blitz the former Pride and Strikeforce champion and came close to stopping him before Henderson pulled guard(I know) and they finished the round in Henderson’s guard. The second round started off with both fighters hunting for that one big punch to end the fight before Lombard caught a Henderson headkick and Henderson responded with an elbow to the temple that dropped Lombard to his back, one more elbow later and Lombard was out cold and Henderson was being dragged off him by the referee.

If that’s the last Dan Henderson fight we see in the UFC, then what a way to go out.
Bobby Green and Dustin Poirier kicked off the main card with an action packed first round. Both fighters didn’t take long to land but Poirier managed to get the better of Green in the exchanges and dropped him early on before keeping the pressure on Green and then finishing him with a left hook that dropped Green. Two more shots whilst he was down and Poirier got the referee stoppage via knockout in under three minutes of the first round.