Luke Rockhold Would Seriously Torture His Body Staying Middleweight

After his third loss from Yoel Romero via knockout at UFC 221, Luke Rockhold claims he has plans to move to Light Heavyweight division.

Luke Rockhold was planning this move earlier, and after he is being challenged to Alexander Gustafsson, he is more than ready to go up. This is the match Luke is extremely interested in, and Gustafsson issued a serious warning to Rockhold in the social media. Luke Rockhold claims there is only one thing which can keep him in the Middleweight division – a fight with Michael Bisping.

Luke Rockhold told these to ESPN:

“I’m not too excited about making that weight cut again. I just don’t feel nearly as strong, powerful, quick. It takes a lot out of me. Pretty much [Michael] Bisping is the only reason I would torture myself to get back there. That’s a loss that doesn’t sit well with me. I know the UFC is very interested in that fight and will pursue it on their end. If he doesn’t accept it, there’s no reason for me to stay at 185. Mr. [Alexander] Gustafsson has reached out, opened his mouth, and that’s a fight that interests me — very much so. I like that match-up. I like every match-up at 205. There’s a lot of interesting things there and I’m not coming to play around.”

“I knew what I was getting into when I took this fight [with Yoel Romero], but I didn’t exactly have the best weight cut. Credit to Yoel. I thought I could take advantage of certain things, and kicking his leg felt like f-cking cement. I ended up having to work around that, and he capitalized. I did a lot at that weight class. People probably don’t give me the credit I deserve for holding the Strikeforce title, but the people who do know, know. Compared to some other guys at 205, of course, I’ll be a little small. But I’ve never tried to just physically go for it, bulk up, lift weights. Every time I’m in training mode, I’ve had to monitor what I’m eating. I’ll break 210 and be around 215 pounds. I know what it takes to compete with the best guys at 205. I’ve trained with them.”

After their showdowns at UFC Fight Night 55 and UFC 199, both of them won once. The trilogy would decide who is definitively better. Michael Bisping hasn’t got the opponent yet for the next fight. Daniel Cormier is seriously interested in going division up, so that might clear Rockhold’s way in the Light Heavyweight.

Luke Rockhold trains with Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez for a long period of time, and he claims he is not afraid of height differential. Luke is 1,91 meter tall, and there aren’t many fighters with significant reach and height advantage in Light Heavyweight division.

Published on February 24, 2018 at 12:00 am
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