Luke Rockhold (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Following Luke Rockhold’s quick and shocking loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 199, commentator Kenny Florian believes a lack of respect for the latter, played a key role in his defeat.

Bisping rocked Rockhold minutes into their headliner, and then KO’d the middleweight champ with follow up punches. In the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show, Florian had this to say about the bout (quote via FOX Sports press release):

“Muhammad Ali said you have to believe in yourself and that’s what Bisping did – he beat a guy who was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters. He stayed in boxing range. Luke was too confident and didn’t respect the speed and power of Bisping. What a great performance to stay in the proper range and not allow Luke to deliver the kicks.”

After his stunning defeat, Rockhold admitted that he underestimated Bisping, and called for a rubber match with the new champ. Bisping agreed that a third fight between the two makes sense.