Hey, this is Sean McClure from PMN and I’m saying straight up that we don’t need a Bisping vs. Rockhold 3 right away.
Today I bring to you the top 5 reasons we do not need an immediate rematch after Michael Bisping crushed Luke Rockhold in the first to take the middleweight title.
Injury
Luke Rockhold revealed he had a knee injury, a pretty serious one before his match with Michael Bisping at UFC 199. The last thing we need is a fighter like Luke Rockhold sidelined for months just because he is furious at Michael Bisping.
Jacare
Jacare Souza is 9-1 in his last ten. He lost a close split decision against Yoel Romero before dismantling Vitor Belfort. One win does not a bad fighter make. He has earned his shot because an argument could be made that he won the Romero fight. He deserves a chance so let’s give it to him. If not him, there is a long list of people waiting for that shot.
All American silencing
Chris Weidman needs to step in to The Octagon with Bisping after calling him the easiest title fight defense for a belt ever. Chris was going to get the obligatory Rockhold rematch after he got dismantled himself in that bout, but now Weidman needs to get back in there and see if A) Bisping is the real deal or B) Weidman’s loss was an anomaly.
Stop the trend
Fans are getting tired of immediate rematches. When someone loses it has become commonplace that the former champion gets an immediate rematch. The one fight that cemented this practice in my opinion was GSP vs. Matt Serra 2. After Serra upset GSP by knocking him out, the fact that GSP was a huge PPV draw helped him get the chance to his title back. If the fight was a stinker there would not have been a return bout. Money, money, money. That’s what drives rematches.
Death of contenders
Immediate rematches demoralize contenders and in Jacare’s case allowed for his one loss in the UFC taking away a legit contender’s chance at the belt. In the past the heavyweight division has been guilty of clogging the ceiling of their division. Cain vs. JDS is the best example of this because in five fights Cain fought Junior Dos Santos three times and the other two were against Bigfoot Silva. After Cain fought Fabricio Werdum we were destined for yet another immediate rematch, but injury bugs and timing stopped that from happening. The UFC may need to rethink this in the stacked middleweight division.
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.