Luke Rockhold Claims Jon Jones ‘Can’t F**k With Him’ On The Ground
Luke Rockhold has been out of action for some time now.
The former UFC middleweight champion was last seen losing a brutal knockout to Yoel Romero at February 2018’s UFC 221. Since then, it’s been a long and frustrating road of injuries and the resulting surgeries for Rockhold. But in that time, he’s also decided to ditch the draining weight cut to 185 pounds that made him ‘brittle’ in his words.
So the outspoken fighter has a whole new division to contend with up at light heavyweight. Rockhold wasted no time in taking direct aim at the top of the historic weight class, calling out champion Jon Jones. The statement was one met with a degree of shock considering how dominant Jones has been. Rockhold has repeatedly touched on why he’ll be able to dethrone ‘Bones’ in recent interviews.
A New Threat At 205?
He reiterated that to Submission Radio (via MMA News). Answering the inevitable question of if Jones would be too big for him, Rockhold said you only need ask his training partner Daniel Cormier what the truth was. Rockhold said he’s getting bigger, and no one – not even Jones – can compete with him on the ground:
“Why don’t you ask DC what kind of problems I pose for him? I can strike with him, I’m no slouch in the wrestling game, and top of it, with the size I have now It’s different.
“And I’m gonna give a lot more power, I’m gonna bring it on the feet, and I don’t believe there’s a man in this game that can f*ck with me on the ground. When you start implementing punches and grappling, there’s no one. I don’t believe there’s anybody who can dance with me in that realm.”
Rockhold has indeed always had a smothering top game. He can stop fights with ground and pound or a variety of submissions, making him a threat to anyone at 205 pounds. We’ll still have to see how his talents translate to a bigger weight class, however.
Never Had A Problem With Jones?
He’ll make his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz at July’s stacked UFC 239 pay-per-view. Jones will defend the belt against Thiago Santos at the same event, yet it’s hard to envision Rockhold getting a title shot with just one win. So you might think his beef with ‘Bones’ stems from Cormier’s long-running rivalry with the troubled MMA great. Rockhold claims he’s never actually had a problem with Jones, though.
That is, until they were in the same divison. For now, he has to focus on Blachowicz:
“Anytime you meet someone at the top, you guys are gonna get after each other. Me and Jon never had a problem, but we’ve never been in the same division. So, we’ll see. I’m gonna focus on Jan Błachowicz.”
