Luke Rockhold’s incremental climb to top contender status ended in an all-out blitz at UFC on Fox 15.
If you thought Rockhold looked impressive last November, when he dispatched Michael Bisping via second-round submission in a fight seen only on UFC Fight Pass…
Or the time before that, when he tapped Tim Boetsch in a hair more than two minutes on pay-per-view…
Or the time before that, when he crumpled Costas Philippou with a body kick TKO in the first round on Fox Sports 1…
Well…let’s just say he saved his best for network television.
Rockhold looked nearly flawless on Saturday, as he grounded, mauled and wrecked former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida en route to a submission victory on the UFC’s second prime-time Fox Network broadcast of the year.
Though the fight company wouldn’t explicitly confirm it just yet, we believe in the process he took sole possession of No. 1 contendership in the middleweight division.
We still have to wait until champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort settle their longstanding business at UFC 187 in May before we can absolutely plan the future of the title. For his part, however, Rockhold seemed to know exactly whom he wants next.
And where.
“Look, I did my part,” he told the Newark, New Jersey crowd during his post-fight interview inside the cage with color commentator Joe Rogan. “Weidman, you go do your part. I want to take this across the way—Madison Square Garden. Let’s make history.”
Mixed martial arts is currently illegal in Weidman’s home state of New York, but after a longstanding political battle in the state capital, things could be looking up for this year. If legalization happens, the UFC has already promised to begin bringing marquee attractions to the Garden.
Rockhold continued to campaign for himself at the post-fight press conference, telling UFC President Dana White he wanted to film a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Weidman, assuming he beats Belfort. That idea would piggyback on TUF’s current upcoming season, which pits rival Florida fight camps American Top Team and the Blackzilians. Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter had this to say:
Even if Belfort should somehow unseat the champion next month, Rockhold’s case for a title shot will be strong. He lost to Belfort during his UFC debut in May 2013, but at the time Belfort was using testosterone replacement therapy. The controversial treatment has since been banned from competition, so Rockhold would have a legitimate argument to make.
During the early stages on Saturday, it looked like Machida might be the one making a bid for another championship opportunity. He tagged Rockhold with a hard counterpunch inside the first minute. Moments later, he followed it with a straight left and then a right as Rockhold continued to swing and miss.
But with a minute, 15 seconds gone in the opening stanza, Rockhold hit Machida with a glancing right hand and the 36-year-old karate master slipped to the canvas. He never recovered.
Rockhold used a guillotine attempt to establish top position and, with the dominant spot firmly in hand, spent the rest of the round chipping away with punches and elbows. Machida twice scrambled up to his feet, but Rockhold merely dragged him back down—at one point deftly kicking his base leg out from under him.
Rockhold’s hardest strikes came during the last 35 seconds of the round, as he rode Machida’s back and punished him with punches from alternating sides. He flirted with a rear-naked choke—it looked tight—but abandoned it in the final 10 seconds, instead rearing up to land a thudding elbow to Machida’s cranium.
“I landed a clean elbow to finish that first round,” Rockhold said to Rogan. “I knew I hurt him. I saw him kind of wobble up to his corner. I knew I had it from there.”
In real time, the strike looked borderline illegal, as if it might be to the back of the head. In the slow-motion replay that played as Rockhold described the sequence on the mic, however, it appeared to land above Machida’s ear.
In any case, the Brazilian was done. Looking unsteady on his feet in the second round, he had few answers for Rockhold’s pressure. They went to the mat with less than two minutes gone, and this time Rockhold flattened Machida out and used another rear-naked choke to elicit the tap.
The victory seemed to leave Rockhold alone at the top. A serious challenge for the No. 1 contender spot from Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza faded last week after Souza’s opponent, Yoel Romero, fell out with a knee injury. Souza defeated late replacement opponent Chris Camozzi in 2:33 in the evening’s co-main event, but he’d already defeated Camozzi once in 2013, so his latest triumph couldn’t compete with Rockhold’s win.
Rockhold now appears ready for his close-up. He walked to the cage to the sound of Joe Esposito’s song “You’re the Best Around”—a not-so-subtle jab at Machida’s unofficial nickname as “The Karate Kid.” He also had Fox broadcaster and American Kickboxing Academy teammate Daniel Cormier working his corner in a dress shirt, tie and white latex gloves.
The whole scene made for some must-see TV, but it also proved that Rockhold is up to the challenge of being among the UFC’s new generation of stars.
“Did you hear my walkout song?” he said to Rogan, after Machida had been dispatched. “I’m the best around.”
After Saturday’s performance, perhaps only Weidman could argue with that statement.
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