Luke Rockhold Says He Is The Man To Dethrone Israel Adesanya
Luke Rockhold is confident he has what it takes to dethrone the current UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
The former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion has not competed since losing to current UFC lightweight champion Jan Blachowicz back in 2019. Rockhold decided to take a hiatus from the sport on a two-fight skid, even hinting at retirement.
All that changed when Rockhold announced his return last year. But trying to find an opponent for his return has been challenging. The 36-year-old insists he’s ready to compete but none of the current crop of top middleweight contenders are willing to fight him.
Adesanya is also coming off a loss against Blachowicz. ‘Stylebender’ was outpointed when he stepped up to 205lbs in an attempt to become a dual-weight UFC champion earlier this year. He’ll now drop back down to his middleweight home to take on Marvin Vettori in an eagerly anticipated rematch at UFC 263.
In an interview with ESPN, Rockhold sized up Adesanya ahead of his return to 185lbs.
“I know what Israel’s capable of. I’ve been studying Israel for a long time. I appreciate his style, but I think he’s beatable in so many ways,” Rockhold told Brett Okamoto. “I don’t think many guys can fight him from the outside like I can. If I just stay relaxed and stay on the outside, it’s a game that I can play. And then if we go into the takedowns, I’ll do it a lot better than Jan did, I’ll tell you that.”
Rockhold has plenty of work to do in order to get in a position to prove himself right against Adesanya. Before his hiatus from the sport the former 185lb king was in poor form, losing three of his last four fight – all by knockout.
Do you agree with Luke Rockhold? Does he have the tools needed to dethrone the middleweight king, Israel Adesanya?
