On This Day — November 8: Rockhold Taps Bisping, Saint Preux Stops Shogun in 34 Seconds
On November 8, 2014, the UFC ran two Fight Night cards on two continents on the same calendar day — one in Sydney, one in Uberlândia, Brazil — and the day produced two finishes that bookend an era: a future champion announcing himself by tapping out the sport's most durable talker, and a legend being knocked out faster than he ever had been, in front of his own people.
On November 8, 2014, the UFC ran two Fight Night cards on two continents on the same calendar day — one in Sydney, one in Uberlândia, Brazil — and the day produced two finishes that bookend an era: a future champion announcing himself by tapping out the sport's most durable talker, and a legend being knocked out faster than he ever had been, in front of his own people.
2014, Sydney — Rockhold taps Bisping on the card nobody survived
The Sydney card, UFC Fight Night 55 at Allphones Arena, holds a distinction no card wants to share: all eleven fights ended inside the distance. One knockout, six TKOs, four submissions — the judges were spectators for 9,904 people, and the main event kept the pattern.
Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping had spent months building a genuine grudge, and the fight was suitably unfriendly. An accidental headbutt bloodied Bisping in the first round; early in the second, Rockhold clipped him with a head kick that put him down, followed him to the mat, and locked a guillotine from mount that forced the tap at 0:57. It was the finest win of Rockhold's career to that point — the former Strikeforce champion submitting the UFC's most relentless volume puncher — and it put him one fight from the middleweight title he would take the following December. His verdict on the feud was almost gracious: "I don't think we will ever be friends, but I have all the respect for him. He's a warrior." Rockhold took Performance of the Night.
2014, Sydney — Whittaker moves up and steals the show
Underneath them, a 23-year-old Australian made the decision that built a champion. Robert Whittaker, who had won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes at welterweight, fought at middleweight in the UFC for the first time that night and brawled with Clint Hester in the card's Fight of the Night, finishing him with a knee and punches at 2:43 of the second round. The power that had been drained by the welterweight cut was suddenly all there. Three years later Whittaker was the UFC's middleweight champion; the first evidence is dated November 8 in his home city.
2014, Uberlândia — Thirty-four seconds of Shogun
Half a world away, the Brazilian card had been rebuilt in a hurry. Maurício "Shogun" Rua's original opponent, Jimi Manuwa, broke his foot; Ovince Saint Preux stepped in on ten days' notice, an underdog walking into a legend's backyard at UFC Fight Night 56. Shogun, 32 but an old 32 — a professional since 2002, and knocked out by Dan Henderson eight months earlier — came out the way Shogun always came out: forward, swinging.
It took 34 seconds. As Rua rushed in with a combination, Saint Preux backed up and clipped him with a short counter left hook that sat him down against the fence, then poured on unanswered left hands until Mario Yamasaki waved it off. It was the fastest defeat of Shogun's career — a former UFC champion and PRIDE grand prix winner, finished in half a minute by a replacement fighter. Saint Preux, who took Performance of the Night, said it best: "This fight meant a lot to me. Shogun is a legend. I have a lot of respect for him and I'm still going to be a big Shogun fan. It's just one of those things: In order to become a legend you have to beat a legend."
Also on this day
- 2014, Sydney: Al Iaquinta stopped Ross Pearson by TKO at 1:39 of the second round, part of the card's perfect finish rate.
- 2014, Sydney: Louis Smolka's side kick and follow-up strikes stopped Richie Vaculik 18 seconds into the third round, earning the night's other Performance of the Night bonus.
- 2014, Sydney: Soa Palelei stopped Walt Harris late in the second round — the last of the night's eleven finishes.
One date, two hemispheres, eleven finishes in Sydney and thirty-four seconds in Brazil: November 8, 2014 is the day the UFC's global sprawl produced two classics at once.
