Luke Rockhold confident he could topple UFC kingpin Alex Pereira: ‘I could beat him, easy, I’m sure’
Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight world champion Luke Rockhold is confident that he could return to top form and take the world title from Brazil’s Alex Pereira.
In his UFC and Strikeforce runs, Luke Rockhold was notable for both slick striking and skilled grappling. Along the way, he was able to defeat impressive names such as ‘Jacare’ Ronaldo Souza, Keith Jardine, Tim Kennedy, Michael Bisping, Lyoto Machida, and Chris Weidman.
In 2019 he went inactive but returned for a battle in 2022 against Paulo Costa. He then retired and was recently signed by BKFC. On April 29, Rockhold has been booked to face Mike Perry at BKFC 41.
Luke Rockhold comments on Alex Pereira
‘Poatan’ Alex Pereira was a two-division GLORY Kickboxing world champion before transitioning to MMA. The heavy-handed Brazilian was able to capture the middleweight throne by way of TKO when he faced off against Israel Adesanya.
The AKA-trained athlete Rockhold is confident in his abilities if he were to re-enter the UFC. In an interview with MMA Junkie, he said:
“Do I still think I could compete at the top? With a healthy body and a good training camp, yeah.”
On the UFC middleweight world champion Alex Pereira, Rockhold said:
“I think I could beat {Alex} Pereira, easy. I’m sure.”
However, it’s a matter of process for the former titleholder. Rockhold continued:
“Do I wanna go through that process of getting up to him? Not quite yet. I took three years off and did nothing. Just getting back to the Paulo Costa fight was a lot for me. Now I’m continuing to train. That was like, my base point. Now I’m getting better.” [Transcript courtesy of MMA News]
See the full interview below:
