UFC 199 boasts scores to settle in both headlining fights

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, June 3, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Two California-based fighters with clashing personalities saw an already heated rivalry inflame over disputes about what happened in previous encounters.

That may sound like a hyper-specific situation, but it works to describe both of the matchups at the top of UFC 199 Saturday in Los Angeles at the Forum.

Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (15-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) tries to beat Michael Bisping (28-7 MMA, 18-7 UFC) for the second time in two years for his first title defense in the pay-per-view's main event. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (21-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) completes a trilogy against Urijah Faber (33-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) four years after it was originally scheduled.

“I think it comes down to opposite ways of thinking,” Cruz said. “I attack the things and admit the things I need to fix. He makes excuses for the things he’s not good at and needs to fix.”

That came in response to Faber’s insistence, nearly five years later, that he deserved the decision when the two fought at UFC 132, which Cruz won unanimously on the judges’ scorecards.

Faber wasn’t about to allow Cruz to take verbal shots at him in their final scheduled media appearance before the fight without offering a counter.

“I beat him up; he did not beat me up,” Faber said. “It’s comical the way this guy talks.”

The pair actually didn’t spend the majority of the final UFC 199 press conference arguing. Oh, they went at it virtually every time one of them addressed.

It’s just that Rockhold and Bisping spent even more time bickering, and their maelstrom of mockery, profanity and threats made Cruz and Faber seem tame by comparison.

Rockhold regularly referenced knocking Bisping down with a head kick and finishing him with a guillotine choke in their November 2014 meeting, and vowed to beat Bisping even quicker this time.

“If you’re confident in a situation, you will achieve things in life,” he said. “That’s how you overcome things; you put yourself out there. You believe it and achieve it. That’s what I do. I know what I’m going to do. I know I’m better than this guy. I know I’m going to knock him out.”

Bisping toned down his earlier protests of the first fight — last week, he claimed he was ahead in the first round until Rockhold illegally head-butted him — but that didn’t stop him from interrupting Rockhold repeatedly Thursday.

“Sounds like the best self-help book you’ve ever read,” Bisping ridiculed. “Come see, achieve, believe. Shut the (expletive) up. You’re talking like you’re this dominant champion. You just got the belt.”

Bisping is trying to pass off the UFC 199 fight as a rubber match, though the two have only fought one sanctioned bout. But years earlier, Rockhold helped Bisping prepare for an upcoming fight in a one-off sparring session.

Breaking a cardinal rule among fighters, Bisping has frequently shared what happened in the gym. He said he picked apart Rockhold both on the feet and on the mat.

“You beat me in that sparring session like you beat me in the first round in our real fight,” Rockhold responded. “I (expletive) knocked you out and choked you out, and you still have the audacity to run your mouth. That is the most amazing thing about you, Bisping. I know you can’t see straight, but you obviously can’t think straight either.”

There’s no disagreement over what happened the first time Cruz and Faber shared a cage. Cruz attempted to halt Faber’s WEC championship reign in March 2007, but didn’t get very far.

Faber choked him out less than two minutes into the fight at the Hard Rock Hotel. Faber still cites the victory as part of his superiority over Cruz, who considers what happened over a decade ago irrelevant.

“I always have high energy but there’s a little more edge on this one,” Faber said. “I’m going to smack this guy around, and it’s going to be ugly.”

If anyone lost in Thursday’s trash-talk culmination, it was Rockhold. In the heat of an argument with Bisping, Rockhold admitted he was coming into the fight with a torn MCL and hadn’t grappled his entire training camp.

Bisping accused Rockhold of building in excuses, which predictably didn’t sit well.

“I don’t need an insurance policy to beat you,” Rockhold said. “I don’t need a knee. I don’t even need to walk. I’ll crawl in that cage and still whoop your ass.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.