Michael Bisping v Luke Rockhold: UFC Fight Night comes to Sydney, Australia

GET two men with big muscles and even bigger attitudes, who just so happen to hate each other’s guts. Then stick them in an arena and tell them to fight. What could go wrong?

UFC Fight Night: Rockhold v Bisping Press Event

GET two men with big muscles and even bigger attitudes, who just so happen to hate each other’s guts. Then stick them in an arena and tell them to fight. What could go wrong?

We’ll find out on November 8, when Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping clash during UFC Fight Night in Sydney.

Rockhold, the 29-year-old American star, has offered up the biggest bet in Australian combat history. He’s willing to wager his entire $100,000 purse on a first-round knockout of Bisping, with whom he’s been feuding for two years.

The arch rivals jetted into Sydney yesterday to promote their headlining bout. A genuine contender in the middleweight division, Rockhold quickly set the agenda for a fiery press conference by suggesting both purses be wagered on a first round knockout.

“And unless I knock him out, I lose,” Rockhold said. “Bisping can run from me the entire first round if he likes — if I don’t knock him out, I lose.”

The British fighter laughed off that challenge, however, questioning why he would bet a fight purse that was “four or five times” the size of his younger, less experienced rival’s.

He then directed a long sequence of insults towards Rockhold, branding him childish, likening him to a WWE fighter, and even criticising a recent Instagram photo he posted with what appeared to be a tranquillised tiger.

“I certainly don’t like guys that go out and molest tigers while they’re under the influence of tranquillisers,” Bisping said.

“Will you finish me in the first round? No. Will you finish me at all? No.

After squaring off for photographs with UFC Australia boss Tom Wright, the pair almost came to blows as they were ushered onto a balcony for more pictures with the Harbour Bridge as a backdrop.

Asked later about their heated exchange, Bisping told the Daily Telegraph: “I kept my cool but he was getting into my personal space.

“At one stage he took a step forward, as if he was going to do something, so I was like, ‘Take one more f***ing step pal and this won’t be a press conference anymore’.

“Luke is trying to make this personal. Fine. But he needs to grow up and stop acting like a child.”

Rockhold and Bisping have been at each other’s throats since 2012. Back then, the American was Strikeforce’s middleweight champion, but Bisping didn’t think much of him.

“I’ve sparred with Luke Rockhold and let’s just say I’m the unofficial Strikeforce champion,” he said. Ever since, they’ve targeted each other on Twitter.

@bisping I will take your liver home and eat it with some fava beans.

— Luke Rockhold (@LukeRockhold) January 16, 2014

@LukeRockhold wow, you again. Find a hobby or something, whatever it is, please stop crying at me.

— michael (@bisping) August 7, 2014

“He’s a f — king a — hole for calling me out constantly on Twitter,” Bisping told MMAjunkie last month. “He’s tweeting me constantly, he’s looking for attention, and maybe he’s trying to build his Twitter followers ... He just needs to f***ing get over it.”

The UFC fight night event in Sydney will boast a large contingent of Australian undercard fighters, including locals Richie Vaculik and Robert Whittaker.