Rockhold is a former UFC middleweight champion. Photo: Disclosure/UFC
In the week in which he would have an important fight to get back on track towards the UFC middleweight belt, Luke Rockhold revealed what his plans are for the beginning of next year. The former category champion wants to reschedule the duel with Ronaldo Jacare for the first quarter of 2017 to then qualify to compete for the title.
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Rockhold and Jacaré would face each other at UFC Fight Night Melbourne, this Saturday (26). However, the American injured his knee and the duel ended up being cancelled. As he intends to avoid surgery and recover in the coming months, Rockhold doesn't want to waste any time.
“Taking into account what's going on with my potential recovery and the fact that [Michael] Bisping and [Yoel] Romero probably won't fight until February or March, I think this is a good time to get back fighting. If I can get back into action in March, it would be perfect for me”, he commented, in an interview with the “Submission Radio” podcast.
Furthermore, Rockhold insisted that his plan is to face Jacaré so that there will be no doubts regarding the next challenger for the belt. This automatically makes you rule out a possible duel with Gegard Mousasi, who won Uriah Hall last Saturday (19), at UFC Belfast. “If I had a guarantee that I would fight for the belt if I caught Mousasi, then I would love [to face him]. But I don't want to face the guy at the back of the line. I have a lot of respect for Mousasi, but I want to return in a prominent position. I want to fight for the belt, and Jacaré is the clearest way to do that. I don't want there to be any doubt about who the next guy is. I want to face Jacaré, resolve my issues with him and be next in line against Bisping or Yoel”, he explained.
The current middleweight champion is Bisping, who took the title from Rockhold in June. His next title challenger should be Romero, who is coming off a knockout victory over the former champion Chris Weidman.
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