This past weekend, Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker faced off in the main event of UFC 271 with Adesanya taking home a unanimous decision win. It was a competitive affair between the top two middleweights in the world and after watching it, a former champion is feeling antsy to get back inside the cage.
Luke Rockhold, a former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, has had a rough go of late. One and three over his past four fights, Rockhold has battled injuries for several years and even took some time off from the sport to recuperate. Rockhold is excited to be back after watching Whittaker and Adesanya fight for 25minutes.
“I think [Whittaker] could have easily won the fight. Izzy could have won. It could have gone either way,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “But I think two champs going at it, and the boys are as good as they’ve come in the last decade. Both of them deserve all credit.
“It’s exciting. Obviously, you think about coming back and I’m getting that feel. It makes your heart beat faster and it feels good. It’s fun to see the different styles, and the progress of the sport. Those two guys get me — I think they’re the cream of the crop for sure. They are the only ones that have it all. Obviously Vettori’s a tough guy. I don’t know if he’s as fun to watch. They are both very creative. And that’s the sh*t that gets me excited.”
Rockhold was expected to make his return to the octagon this past November at UFC 268 against Sean Strickland, however, a herniated disc sidelined the former champion. Now, Rockhold is targeting a return in June and he has a new name in mind: Paulo Costa. Costa had a rough time recently. He blamed his failure to win the middleweight title on a hangover, and was then unable make the catchweight limit of 195 lbs for the fight with Marvin Vettori. But “Borrachinha,” is still one of the best middleweights around the globe, and Rockhold would be interested in the fight, provided Costa gets things under control.
” “It’s possible, and it’s very feasible,” Rockhold stated. So, as long the terms are met, it’s possible to have a dancing. I am not here to battle f*cking cheaters. So, if the weight is met, unless too much wine is consumed, you never know. Weight has to be met, weight has to be met. Too many weak-hearted people are trying to gain an advantage in this game. And I’ve lost, I’ve killed myself to make weight and do things right. I can’t speak for the others .”
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Rockhold has his own history with fighters failing to make weight. At UFC 221, Rockhold was scheduled to face Yoel Romero for an interim middleweight title, however, Romero ended up missing the mark by nearly three pounds. Rockhold continued with the fight, but was brutally eliminated in round three. Rockhold said it was a terrible mistake and vowed to never repeat it.
” I ain’t going to repeat that,” Rockhold stated. “I ain’t going to do that again and fight a guy that misses weight purposely to gain an advantage. F*ck no. There has to be fair play. We’re fighting. We’re not like playing anything else, we’re fighting. So, fair play is necessary. And at this stage of my career, I ain’t willing to f*cking risk anything but fair play. It’s because I do it right that I have always done it correctly .”
But, if Costa is able to clean up his act and lose weight, Rockhold said he would be interested in the fight. He believes that beating Borrachinha could give him the opportunity to face Adesanya.
“It’s a guy that I don’t like, and I think disrespects the sport and motivates me to f*cking correct it,” Rockhold said. It’s an obvious top-ranked guy in some way. He can’t even gain weight. So, typically if anything he should be ranked in the 205-pound division, right? I just don’t care for the guy. I tell you that, I don’t care for the guy. And I think it’s a fun fight. He can come to me …
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“I don’t hate it, I don’t hate it. Obviously it’s about selling tickets. And if you can go out there and put a statement and a staple on the fight on a big top five fight, it speaks volumes. It’s a great thing. Making a statement in public can get me into a nice spot .”
