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Luke Rockhold is ready for Matt Lindland, wants title match with Jacare
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “So you have a big fight coming up with Matt Lindland. How do you feel about the opportunity to fight a veteran like Matt?”
LUKE ROCKHOLD: “Um, Matt’s, you know, it’s a big opportunity. I’m looking forward to it, you know? The only thing I’m not looking forward to is, I heard he really stinks, you know. He doesn’t like shower before a fight. (laughs) So I’m going to try to keep it at a distance with Matt, keep my range. But, nah, you know, it’s a big opportunity. He’s really tough, you know, all-around and I’m going to try to expose his weaknesses. He’s a tough wrestler. I’m really good at, you know, I’m a good wrestler. People underestimate my wrestling even though I wrestle with really tough guys and I’ll be ready for that wrestling. He’s got to be ready for my jiu-jitsu. I’m one of the best guys here in the division and again I think my stand-up’s one of the best, too. I think those two parts of the games are going to be where I’m going to expose him in this fight and nullify the wrestling and come out, come with it on the feet, keep the distance, and try to take him out there and if he wants to get on top of me or gets me down, I’ll implement my jiu-jitsu game and make him work and submit him, get back up and keep working.”
INTERVIEWER: “How much of an advantage do you think it is training at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) with all the world-class wrestlers you have?”
LUKE ROCKHOLD: “It’s a huge advantage. I get to work with Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez and I’m always caught in the middle so I always, for some reason, get bumped up to the big guys and it pays off, that’s how I’ve gotten so far in my career is you know I’m sitting here working with Cain and Daniel and now we got Mark Ellis in here, too, so I’m going to be working with the biggest, toughest wrestlers in the world and I don’t see Matt giving me anything that they can’t, you know, and if I can hang with them, I’ll think I’ll be just fine so I’m working hard on my wrestling and he better bring some other stuff because I’ll be ready for what I’ve seen and I’m coming hard.”
INTERVIEWER: “Where do you think a win would place you in the Middleweight division?”
LUKE ROCKHOLD: “Um, I mean, I think it should put me right up there into title contention depending on what they want they do and how I end this fight, you know, I figure I’m going to come and do like I always do and come out, come out to finish, and finish strong. I’ll be ready for whatever they give me. If they want to give me a shot after this, I’m more than ready. I see a lot of holes in Jacare’s games and I think I can expose them and I think my jiu-jitsu’s definitely well-enough to keep up with him and my wrestling is better than his, no doubt about it. My stand-up is good and a lot of the stuff on the feet I haven’t shown yet. I can fight from both sides and, yeah, I’m more dynamic than he is in a lot of ways and I’m ready. I see the holes and I can expose them if they want to give me the shot but I’m focused right now and Matt’s real tough competition so I’m grinding every day. … I’m cracking the whip for the next seven weeks and I’ll be ready, I’ll be coming with it.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Josh Thomson on the Underground said a while back that Luke Rockhold wasn’t exactly top of the heep during practice. Then again, this is the same Josh Thomson who said Bobby Lashley could beat Brock Lesnar…. So take that for what it’s worth.
Matt Lindland wins this fight as long as his skills haven’t diminished too much.
But Strikeforce really needs Rockhold to win. Despite this “stacked” Middleweight Division, they really don’t have any sort of challenger for their champion right now and there is probably zero interest in a Souza/Lindland 2 fight.