The battle for the UFC middleweight championship will take place at the UFC 194. Luke Rockhold will be challenging the champion, Chris Weidman.
This is what the challenger has to say, “I’m a competitive person, and a little heated battle builds it up. It’s fun to me. It’s a little more motivation for me to train, and I think it’s good for the fans too.”
This is the fight that Rockhold (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has waited for two years now. The challenger has been longing for a UFC belt fight and this will definitely happen come December 12. He is to face Weidman (13-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), who is the reigning title holder and the battle will happen in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The challenger was supposed to have his first title fight for the middleweight crown, but this was delayed when he faced Vitor Belfort and was caught by this contender’s spinning heel kick, which then knocked him out in 2013. This was actually Rockhold’s only loss since 2007.
Rockhold then came back with a four-fight winning streak. He took on Michael Bisping and then earned a first-round submission win.
“You saw what happened with Bisping; we built that thing up. It was heated, and what happened went down in the cage? I picked him apart like a little boy. And that’s what I’m going to do to Weidman. The closer you get, you start torturing yourself day in and day out, and you realize that this guy’s trying to take this all from you. This guy’s making you get up out of bed when you’re beaten and broken and don’t want any more, and you’ve got to go train. This guy is training to take your livelihood and your dream. It definitely gets personal as it builds up. It’s already started, and I’m telling you it’s going to escalate.”
This will be the fourth time that mixed martial arts fighter Weidman will be defending his title, Being a standout collegiate wrestler and submission grappler, the champion is expected to have an advantage if the fight goes to the ground..
However, Rockhold sees it in a very different way
“We both are guys that are pressure fighters. We both come forward. We both control the octagon. It’s who’s going to win that battle. Weidman’s going to come forward. I’m going to come forward. I’m going to put my left leg f-cking right up wherever it goes. He’s going to realize what he’s in for, and then he’s going to start backpedaling, and then we’re going to fight my fight.”
Rockhold added that he’ll be more concerned about not getting too carried away as the fight goes down.
“I’m not going to go Nick Diaz and lay down on the canvas, but I think it’s a show of confidence. It’s the subtleties of the fight. I’m a fighter at heart. I try to be as technical as possible, but I like a good brawl.”