After more than 18 months away from competition, Luke Rockhold will finally make his return on Saturday for the biggest fight of his career against Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
A product of American Kickboxing Academy, the 26-year-old Rockhold is considered one of the brightest young fighters in the middleweight division after winning seven of his first eight professional fights.
Despite missing a lengthy period of time due to a shoulder injury, Rockhold was seen as one of the most talented 185-pound fighters under the Strikeforce banner.
While it came as a surprise to some that he was given a title shot after the long layoff, Rockhold wasn’t overly shocked by Strikeforce’s decision to give him the opportunity.
“It came as somewhat of a surprise,” Rockhold told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “But I started realizing once Robbie Lawler lost, Tim Kennedy lost, [Jason] “Mayhem” [Miller] went to the UFC, [Dan] Henderson went up. The middleweight division was so strong for so long in Strikeforce, but it just kind of thinned out a little bit.
“There really weren’t many contenders left, so the thought crossed my mind that “Jacare” could be an option and I could be an option.”
Shortly after it was announced that he had been booked as the next top contender to Souza’s belt, Rockhold suffered multiple injuries in training. While the injuries were frustrating, Rockhold never feared that they would be serious enough to cause him to withdraw from the fight.
“I’ve never actually dislocated my finger like that,” Rockhold said, “but I knew it wasn’t broken and it was back in place. Nothing like that’s going to stop me from a fight. It pissed me off and annoyed me for quite awhile.
“Little things like that get on your nerves when you’re training for a big fight. I pretty much fractured my foot. I was doing a spinning back kick about 10 weeks ago, so I fought pretty much my whole camp with that.”
With all of his injury problems finally behind him, Rockhold is ready to make the most of the opportunity in front of him.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Rockhold said. “I think this is my time. I’ve been waiting and I think the time off has just given me time to prepare myself physically and mentally.”
In addition to his extended hiatus, Rockhold has never had a fight reach the second round. That combination has prompted some to wonder what Rockhold’s conditioning would be like if this fight goes into the later rounds.
Contrary to the skepticism, Rockhold doesn’t believe a 25-minute fight would be a problem for him at all.
“My cardio is off the charts,” Rockhold said. “I took my resting heart rate the other day and it was at like 36.5 beats per minute. I feel like I’ve got the best cardio I’ve ever had. I can go five rounds easy. If it takes that, I’ll do that, but I’m always looking to finish the fight as soon as possible.”
While he is a brown belt in jiu-jitsu under Dave Camarillo, Rockhold believes his striking is on par with his ground game. Although he isn’t looking to finish his opponent in any particular fashion, Rockhold understands the magnitude of what a submission over a world-class jiu-jitsu practitioner like Souza would mean for his career.
“If ‘Jacare’ thinks he’s safe on the ground, then he better think twice,” Rockhold said. “I’ve got submissions and I can catch some of the best black belts in the world. A submission would definitely make a huge statement and prove what kind of level my jiu-jitsu is because I really believe I can compete with ‘Jacare’ on the ground.”
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Sean has also had his work featured on UFC.com and LowKick.com. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.
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