Luke Rockhold suffered cut on head that he ‘superglued’ just two weeks before fight

NEWARK, N.J. – Luke Rockhold may have solidified himself as the No. 1 contender in the middleweight division with his resounding victory over Lyoto Machida on Saturday night, but in the weeks leading up he was going through some travails.

Rockhold admitted that he was battling a bout of bronchitis when he fought at UFC on FOX 15’s main event in Newark. He also explained why he suddenly had a bald spot on the back of his head, which wasn’t there just a couple of weeks ago.

“I just try to take everything as a blessing in disguise,” he said in the post-fight press conference. “You can’t bitch about every little thing that happens. I’ve got a bald spot. I went surfing and hit my head, and I had to glue it a couple of weeks ago. Training with a super-glued head is tough. It’s not a real bald spot. I actually had to shave that off to train.”

Everybody had a laugh as Rockhold explained this, and showed the little circle of missing hair to the media and friends that had gathered at the Prudential Center. He was surfing in his native Santa Cruz trying to relax and get away from training when the accident occurred.

If that weren’t enough, Rockhold was also battling bronchitis.

“Bronchitis sucks,” he said. “I felt a little sluggish [in the fight], but whatever. I knew I was going to go out there and handle my business. Things happen, but whatever.”

Rockhold dominated the former light heavyweight champion Machida from midway through the first round on. After getting the Brazilian fighter on the ground, he was able to put Machida away in the second round via rear-naked choke at the 2:31 mark. With the victory Rockhold made an emphatic statement that he should be next in line to face the winner of Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman’s title fight at UFC 187 in May.

However, with the No. 1 contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza scoring a first round submission victory over late-replacement Chris Camozzi in the co-main event Saturday night, Dana White wasn’t ready to declare Rockhold next in line just yet.

NEWARK, N.J. – Luke Rockhold may have solidified himself as the No. 1 contender in the middleweight division with his resounding victory over Lyoto Machida on Saturday night, but in the weeks leading up he was going through some travails.

Rockhold admitted that he was battling a bout of bronchitis when he fought at UFC on FOX 15’s main event in Newark. He also explained why he suddenly had a bald spot on the back of his head, which wasn’t there just a couple of weeks ago.

“I just try to take everything as a blessing in disguise,” he said in the post-fight press conference. “You can’t bitch about every little thing that happens. I’ve got a bald spot. I went surfing and hit my head, and I had to glue it a couple of weeks ago. Training with a super-glued head is tough. It’s not a real bald spot. I actually had to shave that off to train.”

Everybody had a laugh as Rockhold explained this, and showed the little circle of missing hair to the media and friends that had gathered at the Prudential Center. He was surfing in his native Santa Cruz trying to relax and get away from training when the accident occurred.

If that weren’t enough, Rockhold was also battling bronchitis.

“Bronchitis sucks,” he said. “I felt a little sluggish [in the fight], but whatever. I knew I was going to go out there and handle my business. Things happen, but whatever.”

Rockhold dominated the former light heavyweight champion Machida from midway through the first round on. After getting the Brazilian fighter on the ground, he was able to put Machida away in the second round via rear-naked choke at the 2:31 mark. With the victory Rockhold made an emphatic statement that he should be next in line to face the winner of Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman’s title fight at UFC 187 in May.

However, with the No. 1 contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza scoring a first round submission victory over late-replacement Chris Camozzi in the co-main event Saturday night, Dana White wasn’t ready to declare Rockhold next in line just yet.