On Saturday, Luke Rockhold will make his octagon return against the feared heavy-hitter Paulo Costa in the UFC 278 co-main event.
The former middleweight champion Rockhold is a sizable underdog, but one who thinks highly of him is light heavyweight veteran Anthony Smith. Talking to James Lynch, “Lionheart” claimed that Rockhold could be a major player not only middleweight, but in the light heavyweight division too.
“I think that Luke is absolutely the better fighter, but I’ve said that about the last couple of guys that Luke has fought,” Smith said in an interview with James Lynch. “Luke Rockhold’s problem is not that he is not good enough to be at the top of the division, because he is, and that same goes for 185 and 205. He is that good. His issue has always been his defense and pulling out of shots with his chin up.”
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Luke Rockhold is 1-3 in the UFC
37-year-old Luke Rockhold has lost two fights in a row, against Yoel Romero and Jan Blachowicz. In fact, he only won one out of four fights since taking the middleweight belt from Chris Weidman back in December 2015.
All in all, he has five losses, all coming by way of knockout, and during the years Rockhold has been criticized for his defensive skills.
“I hope that he’s fixed that because if he has, he can avoid taking anything big. I don’t see where Paulo Costa wins this fight. I don’t see how. Luke’s too good on his feet. I’ve said this time and time again. I’ve heard the horror stories of Luke Rockhold grappling. That guy is goddamn good from what I hear. If he can avoid taking a big shot from Paulo Costa, honestly, as silly as it sounds, he might make it look easy.”
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