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After pulling out of his Lorenz Larkin fight due to injury, there's a very good chance that Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold will join the ranks of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as the last man to hold the promotion's 185-pound strap.
There's just one problem.
That's a title UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping already (unofficially) has, seeing as how "The Count" got a taste of what the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product had to offer on the feet. After a few minutes of exchanging leather, the brash Brit was considerably underwhelmed.
From his appearance on MMA Uncensored Live:
"Luke Rockhold? By all accounts he and Lorenz Larkin should fight and the winner of that fight -- if not both of them -- go over to the UFC. Are they gonna come over and be number one contenders? I don't think so. You're in Strikeforce, come over to the UFC and earn your place. Let me put it like this: I've sparred with Luke Rockhold recently and let's just say I'm the unofficial Strikeforce champion. Sorry Luke, but these are the facts."
Rockhold (10-1) will no longer be a part of the Strikeforce: "Champions" event, which serves as the Showtime network's final mixed martial arts (MMA) broadcast (that we know of) on Jan. 12, 2013 from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
And Bisping?
He'll try to get that elusive middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, one that's eluded him for years, by throwing hands opposite Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 7 from Ginasio Estadual Geraldo Jose de Almeida in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Jan. 19, 2013.
A win could get him "The Spider," but would a loss get him Rockhold?
Time will tell.