UFC Fight Night 88 - Almeida vs. Garbrandt --- UFC Fight Night 89 - MacDonald vs. Thompson


UFC 199: Rockhold vs. Bisping 2 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event that will be held on June 4, 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.


Official fight card

Main Card

Middleweight Luke Rockhold (c) vs. Michael Bisping For the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Bantamweight Dominick Cruz (c) vs. Urijah Faber For the UFC Bantamweight Championship.
Featherweight Max Holloway vs. Ricardo Lamas
Middleweight Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard
Lightweight Dustin Poirier vs. Bobby Green

Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)

Featherweight Brian Ortega vs. Clay Guida
Lightweight Beneil Dariush vs. James Vick
Women's Strawweight Jessica Penne vs. Jessica Andrade
Featherweight Cole Miller vs. Alex Caceres

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Welterweight Sean Strickland vs. Tom Breese
Light Heavyweight Jonathan Wilson vs. Luiz Henrique da Silva
Middleweight Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Lightweight Polo Reyes vs. Dong Hyun Kim


Background

While this is the first time the organization has hosted an event at the venue, it will be the fifth time that UFC has hosted an event in Los Angeles County. Previous UFC events in the area were held at the Staples Center.

The event was expected to be headlined by a UFC Middleweight Championship rematch between current champion Luke Rockhold and former champion Chris Weidman. They previously met at UFC 194, when Rockhold won Weidman's title via fourth round TKO. However, Weidman pulled out on May 17 due to a large extrusion herniation on his neck. The first replacement choice was former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza, who lost his title to Rockhold in 2011, but he injured his meniscus in a win at UFC 198 against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort. Therefore, he was replaced by The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Michael Bisping. The fight will also be a rematch as the two met previously in November of 2014 at UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping, with Rockhold winning via submission in the second round.

The co-main event is expected to feature a UFC Bantamweight Championship trilogy bout between current two-time champion Dominick Cruz and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber. The pairing first met at featherweight on WEC 26 in 2007, when Faber defeated Cruz via guillotine choke to defend his title. The rematch took place on UFC 132 in 2011, when Cruz defended his title for the first time via unanimous decision.

A lightweight bout between Evan Dunham and The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 winner Leonardo Santos, originally scheduled for UFC 198, was moved to this event after a minor injury to Dunham delayed the matchup a few weeks. Subsequently, Santos pulled out on April 29 due to an undisclosed injury and was replaced by James Vick. In turn, Dunham pulled out of that pairing on May 5 for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Beneil Dariush.

In January 2016, former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion B.J. Penn announced his intentions to return to active competition in the featherweight division after an 18-month "retirement" and was expected to compete at UFC 197. However, Penn's return was delayed after an investigation into criminal allegations made against him was launched. After the UFC concluded that no criminal or civil charges would be filed, the organization announced that he would face Dennis Siver at this event. In turn, Siver pulled out on May 10 due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by Cole Miller. Subsequently, Penn himself was removed from the card on May 23 after he was flagged for a potential anti-doping violation: the use of an IV in excess of 50 ml in a six-hour period during a March 25, out-of-competition sample collection. He was replaced by Alex Caceres.

A lightweight bout between John Makdessi and Mehdi Baghdad was originally scheduled for this event, but on April 28 it was announced that the bout was moved to UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez on July 7, possibly to bolster the card.



May 24 - Updated fight card & background
Jun 03 - Updated fight card & background

May 24 - Updated fight card & background

Jun 03 - Updated fight card & background