Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping (right)

By FCF Staff

Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold have been booked to fight at UFC Fight Night 55, and while both men are top ten ranked 185’ers, their ongoing feud is likely the main reason the fight’s been scheduled.

Not long ago, it looked as though Rockhold would be tapped to fight Lyoto Machida, as the fighter’s are ranked #5 and #4 respectively. But, shortly after Bisping took out Cung Le in August, the UFC signed the grudge match between “The Count” and Rockhold.

The two have been verbally warring since Bisping publicly claimed he bested Rockhold in a sparring session, and more recently, their rivalry has really taken off.

The UFC held a conference call recently to promote the November 8th fight in Australia, and here is some of what Bisping had to say about their feud (quote via MMA Junkie.com):

“Well, allow me to shed some light on that situation because Luke, I’m not sure he’s aware of this, this is a f–king conference call, so you’re supposed to try and be a little bit eloquent and get your side of the story over,” Bisping said. “Luke, I don’t know you, I don’t care for you, we haven’t shared a single proper conversation. You’re basing your facts, or what you presume is fact, on absolutely nothing, on fresh air. We’ve had one conversation of the sparring match in question, which everybody talks about.

“You don’t know me, you don’t know me as a person, so kiss my f–king ass, you lanky piece of s–t. I’ll see you in Australia, you a–hole. We’ll put it all to bed then.”

Rockhold is coming off a quick submission win over Tim Boetsch, after stopping Costas Philippou in January. The only man to defeat Rockhold in his last 10 fights is Vitor Belfort.

Prior to his win over Le, Bisping was decisioned by Tim Kennedy in April. The outspoken middleweight is 3-2 in his last 5 bouts.