UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping | ||||
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Information | ||||
Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
Date | November 8, 2014 | |||
Venue | Allphones Arena | |||
City | Sydney, Australia | |||
Attendance | 9,904 [1] | |||
Total gate | $1.5 million [1] | |||
Event chronology | ||||
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UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping (also known as UFC Fight Night 55, or UFC Fight Night Sydney) was a mixed martial arts event held at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia on November 8, 2014. [2] [3]
This event was the fourth event that the UFC hosted in Sydney and the sixth event to take place in Australia. The last time the UFC was in Sydney was for UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann on March 3, 2012. [2]
Ray Borg was expected to face Richie Vaculik at this event. However, Borg was forced to pull out of the event due to injury and was replaced by Neil Seery. [4] Subsequently, Seery pulled out of that bout as well and was replaced by Louis Smolka. [5]
Patrick Williams was expected to face Jumabieke Tuerxun at the event. However, Williams was forced out of the bout due to injury and was replaced by Marcus Brimage. [6]
A scheduled featherweight bout between Mark Eddiva and Mike De La Torre was cancelled after both fighters suffered injuries. [7]
Daniel Omielańczuk was expected to face Soa Palelei at this event. However, Omielańczuk was forced to pull out of this event due to injury and was replaced by Walt Harris. [8]
Aljamain Sterling was expected to face Frankie Saenz, though Saenz was forced to withdraw from the bout. Promotional newcomer Michael Imperato was briefly linked as a replacement. However, his signing was quickly rescinded [9] and as a result, Sterling was pulled from the event altogether. [10]
The event holds the record of having the most finishes on a single modern UFC card with 11 finishes, for a rate of 1.000. [11] UFC 224 would later tie this record on May 12, 2018, but at a finishing rate of 0.846. [12] UFC 281 on November 12, 2022 also had eleven finishes to tie this record.
Fight card (UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
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Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
Middleweight | Luke Rockhold | def. | Michael Bisping | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 0:57 | |
Lightweight | Al Iaquinta | def. | Ross Pearson | TKO (punches) | 2 | 1:39 | |
Middleweight | Robert Whittaker | def. | Clint Hester | TKO (knee and punches) | 2 | 2:43 | |
Heavyweight | Soa Palelei | def. | Walt Harris | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:49 | |
Preliminary card (UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
Lightweight | Jake Matthews | def. | Vagner Rocha | Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 1:52 | |
Light Heavyweight | Anthony Perosh | def. | Guto Inocente | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 3:46 | |
Middleweight | Sam Alvey | def. | Dylan Andrews | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:16 | |
Flyweight | Louis Smolka | def. | Richie Vaculik | TKO (side kick and punches) | 3 | 0:18 | [lower-alpha 1] |
Welterweight | Chris Clements | def. | Vik Grujic | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:06 | |
Middleweight | Dan Kelly | def. | Luke Zachrich | Submission (kimura) | 1 | 4:27 | |
Bantamweight | Marcus Brimage | def. | Zhumabek Tursyn | KO (head kick) | 1 | 2:58 |
The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses: [14]
Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor since 2004, he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion, a former Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight tournament winner. At UFC 78, he became the first British fighter to compete in a UFC main event. At UFC 199, he became the first British fighter to win a UFC Championship. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on 5 July 2019.
Soa Palelei is an Australian retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 2002 until 2015, he most notably competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championships.
Luke Skyler Rockhold is an American retired mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competed in the Light Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. A two-time world champion, Rockhold also won the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. He defended the title twice and was the last man to hold the belt before Strikeforce was officially absorbed by the UFC in 2013. Rockhold is also an avid surfer, skateboarder, and a professional model, having modeled at the New York Fashion Week and as the face of Ralph Lauren's "Polo Blue" fragrance.
Marcus Clyde Brimage is a retired American mixed martial artist who competed in the Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2007, he has formerly competed for the UFC and was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller. He is perhaps best known for his fight against Conor McGregor, who was making his UFC debut.
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Richie Vaculik is a mixed martial artist and big wave surfer from Maroubra, Australia. Richie competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight division.
Jumabieke Tuerxun is a Kazakh-Chinese mixed martial arts fighter and trainer. He currently fights as a Bantamweight.
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