Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold is the best MMA bromance you’ll see this week

You’d be well within your rights to presume there’s no love lost between former UFC middleweight champions Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold.

We’re coming up on five years since Bisping pulled off a stunner with a short-notice knockout of Rockhold to win the 185-pound title at UFC 199. That win avenged a submission loss to Rockhold for Bisping, but it also set off plenty of bad blood between the two.

But Tuesday, if there are any lingering issues between the two, they were put on hold. We’re not saying they’re going to send each other Christmas cards since that generally doesn’t seem to happen when one of the parties called the other a “fa**ot c**ksucker” not long after their title fight.

So how did the former opponents become almost-BFFs, at least for a day? Let’s take a look.

Rockhold takes training to RVCA Sport in 2018

We have to go back about two and a half years – that's when Rockhold started training with Jason Parillo, who was Bisping's head coach. Rockhold started working with Parillo at the RVCA training center in Costa Mesa, Calif., south of Los Angeles. After he learned of it, Bisping on his "Believe You Me" podcast said he would most certainly take future opportunities to bust Parillo's chops over the new partnership. https://www.instagram.com/p/BlteDzQlx4z/

Rockhold starts plotting a 2021 return

Although he's lost three of his past four fights, all by knockout, and hasn't fought since a July 2019 KO loss to current light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, Rockhold is planning a return at some point in 2021. Working his way back from a shoulder surgery, Rockhold continues to train at RVCA under Parillo's tutelage. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLNq5wID20X/

Bisping drops in at RVCA ... while Rockhold is there

Tuesday, Bisping paid a visit to RVCA, and what do ya know? There was Rockhold working on the mats. But rather than a tense moment between the two, instead, while Parillo filmed on his phone from a nearby ring, we got ... a quick hug? https://www.instagram.com/p/CL7yQHSBW5Z/?igshid=1ri2gpmbcddxp

Bisping asks Rockhold for a shout-out

While making the rounds on the floor at RVCA, Bisping asked Rockhold for a shout-out for his Instagram followers. Rockhold jokingly told his dog Luci to get Bisping. https://www.instagram.com/p/CL77wTvBRnE/

Bisping tries to win Rockhold's dog over

Perhaps knowing the key to Rockhold's heart might be through the love of his dog, Bisping spent some quality time with Luci and joked about stealing her. Of course, Bisping also seems to think Luci is a boy dog, which probably didn't win him many points with Luci. (Who, we have to assume, is a good girl. A goooooooooodddddddd girrrrrrrrrrlllllll!) https://twitter.com/bisping/status/1366907950174932992

One-day bromance?

So are Bisping and Rockhold destined to become buds now? Meh ... probably not. But for one day, the MMA world can dream, right? They seem like they'd make a great oddball combination in a buddy-cop movie with Luci tagging along. We'd pay $12.50 for that flick. The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie's blog space. We don't take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS. [vertical-gallery id=391140]

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