Accordingly, when a fight against Michael Bisping sprung, there will definitely be more strong feelings coupled with more trash talk.
Many of Bispings competitor if not all but most, ends with a barrage of trash talk coming from the fighter. And this time around, it is with Luke Rockhold. Rockhold is now seeing Bisping as his number one enemy.
Rockhold divulge information about Bisping during a television interview. According to him, Bisping is insecure.
He said "He was asked about the Strikeforce guys coming into the UFC. Strikeforce hadn't even been in the UFC yet and Bisping was asked about it. I guess he was worried that I'd jump him for a title shot."
"He told them he'd sparred with me and said, 'Let's just say I'm the unofficial Strikeforce champion.' He said that out of defense and because he was scared I'd jump him for a title shot. So to better himself, he threw me under the bus."
Rockhold is a former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion. As of May 26, 2014, he is #5 in official UFC middleweight rankings and ranked the #6 middleweight in the world by Sherdog.
But the American has a close fighting friend who is always on his side. Daniel Cormier has an advice for his close pal and that is to have him be ready for the fight as BIsping is better than his appearance.
Cormier said "Luke has more ways to win this fight, but that said, it's still a tough fight. Bisping is a guy that when you get into the cage with him, he's so much better than you anticipate. Rashad Evans told me that when he was fighting Bisping, even his team told him, 'Rashad, this is a fight you should walk away with. It's not going to be that difficult.' He said between the first and second round, he looked at the guys in his corner and said, 'Somebody lied to me.'"
He adds "Mike's an unbelievable fighter. You can say he's lost his biggest fights, whatever, and it might be true, but how many guys wouldn't take a [15-6] UFC record?"
But Rockhold has some strong words for Bisping. He said "The guy is a piece of [expletive] and that's the way I'm going to treat him. Look, the guy is a good fighter. You can't take that from him. He's well-rounded and that has gotten him by. He works really hard and he's able to outwork guys or find some avenue to beat them. As I said, he is a well-rounded fighter."
"A lot of guys are great at one thing and have a hold in another department. But Bisping is solid at all three departments and he'll fight to his last breath and give it everything he's got. I respect that side of him, but he doesn't have the intangibles. He doesn't have knockout power. He's pretty quick, and he's technical, but he's not great at anything and that's where I'll expose him. I believe I'm better everywhere. I have the intangibles and I'm better in every department."