Luke Rockhold expects reigning 155-pound champion Islam Makhachev to defeat No. 1-ranked lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan when they run it back atop the UFC 311 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Jan. 11 in Los Angeles.
That’s because the former UFC middleweight titleholder has experience rolling with both combatants — but denies ever getting submitted by Makhachev in practice.
“I’m just saying I rolled with Islam a lot, he’s very good,” Rockhold told JAXXON podcast. “I’ve rolled with [Arman], I don’t think it will be as hard. No, [Islam never submitted me]. I love the guy, he’s dangerous, he’s hard as hell, him and Khabib. I was 185 pounds, they were 155 pounds.”
The unconvinced JAXXON hosts petitioned Rockhold to FaceTime fellow American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) teammate and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier to verify his claims, but Rockhold insisted “DC” would peddle the tallest of tales.
Cormier currently serves as color commentator for select UFC PPV events.
“Daniel Cormier is the biggest liar,” Rockhold said. “How do you think he makes good TV? Because he just lies his way through TV. One thing that Daniel would always say, ‘if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.’ He would slip fingers, he would do whatever he’s gotta do to get out of there. There’s certain levels to it.”
Cormier certainly proved that during the UFC 210 weigh ins.
The 40 year-old Rockhold parted ways with UFC back in late 2022 after suffering three straight losses. He would eventually migrate to bareknuckle boxing at the expense of a few teeth, but blasted his way back into the win column by bagging and tagging Joe Schilling for Karate Combat last April.