What's Next For Luke Rockhold?
SteemSports Presenter: @brandonk
SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0
The vicious knockout of the former middleweight kinf rang loudly this past Saturday night, and Yoel Romero has become yet again the number one contender at 185 pounds. Luke was unable to find his range the entire fight and succumbed to a nuclear left hand which ended the fight.
It has been a tough road since Luke's time off from becoming champ and immediately losing the belt. Michael Bisping somewhat exposed Luke through his combination punching and breaking through the low guard of Luke... which in essence is his habit of dropping his right arm to deflect damage.
Yoel bursted through space to land his vicious left hand... his bursts may have been underestimated by Luke who couldn't sem to gauge distance at all through three rounds. The leg kicks were there, but Luke is very hittable and paid a dear price in not fixing his bad defensive habits.
Yoel has lost to the current champion, so a rematch with Jacare would suit him well. I can also see Luke possibly giving Chris Weidman a rematch to at least keep both men in contention. It will be hard to match Luke since he doesn't seem to fare well against any type of power puncher.
Yoel seemed to be quite hurt post fight... in fact his leg seemed to keep giving out on him and he wasn't able to stand for the post fight interview. Luke had a solid gameplan, but was unable to capitalize and finish the very dangerous and at times elusive 'Soldier of God.'
Again, it will be very hard to match Luke Rockhold up with any top 5 contenders at this point. A rematch with Jacare seems imminent, but now Jacare is coming off a win and Luke is coming off a loss. It will be tough work for the matchmakers, hopefully Luke makes a full recovery.
Off to the Bellator he goes with his buddy Scott Coker :D
I agree. I think all of the UFC fighters should move over to Bellator. They get paid better and won't get chewed up by the GM.
It is a serious possibility... for shame.
I would like to see him against Gastelum to prove that he still belongs to the top of the middleweight division and on the other hand it is a great opportunity for gastelum to rise even higher after win against Bisping. But as You forgot to mention Rockhold said before Romero fight that after that fight he is going to light heavyweight so in that case i would like to see him against Manuwa or OSP for the start.
Great article and comments!
If Luke stays at MW i would like this on one card:
Whittaker vs Romero 2
Rockhold vs Weidman 2
Gastelum vs Jacare
it would be a cool tournament style and good for the MW division! I think Rockhold vs Gastelum makes more sense but the above brings more to the card (my opinion)
If he gets up to LHW, which I think he will now, he may need to bulk up a bit. The MW cut was hard for him, you could see he felt like shit, BUT he walks around at about 210... most LHW cut 20lbs to make 205... The age old problem with mma weight cuts hey!
hello friend says it's good Rockhold vs Gastelum, I agree but it is clear that Gastelum would win by his superior hit
I love Romero, but he loves Rockhold :)
Stability is a sign of quality and an indicator of skill, so it was easy before the beggining of this fight to predict the removal of the Luke's body in the third round. In principle, the theorizing about this fight's end was easy - Romero by knockout in the second or third or Rokhold by decision. So, as I was thinking before the fight, Rokhold went exactly to get the decision (with jab and low kicks). So he shot for the first round 10-9, but in the second round Cuba man rolled up a series on the explosion, pressing Luke to the net and forming several sweeping side punches.
Then Rockhall seem to have done some conclusions, and already he did not want to work the first number in cage. He began to huddle the grid too cautiously and Romero just crushed him out.
Since then Romero was not confused any more by Luke's jabs, low kicks. Two fake right jabs and a left straight, like a steel rail into the head. Then we have seen a headshot uppercut when "surfer" was on the floor and Rockhhold's moral destruction with pitiful "ah lava yu" kiss after knockout. Double fatalitie. God's warrior is one of the most frightening dude in the UFC. Why is he so cool in his 40 years? Whatever it was, apparently, I'm waiting for next great fight with Whittaker and I want to look at it, I really want to.
excellent article. I predicted it many times in my account that I would win