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At one point, this dude was one of the best fighters in the UFC. A shame, really.
News Luke Rockhold eyes possible UFC return; Names Darren Till or Marvin Vettori as potential opponents
- Thread starter Gio
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Rockhold missed the best chance to go to 205 by a few years.
The guys at LHW are tall, long and ultra explosive now. Luke is slow even for 185, and relies on his size and strength quite a bit. Pretty much a nightmare scenario for him up at 205 now.
And the cut to 185 is gonna be deadly for him now. Not to mention that his MW opponents will probably gameplan to exploit his defensive holes.
The guys at LHW are tall, long and ultra explosive now. Luke is slow even for 185, and relies on his size and strength quite a bit. Pretty much a nightmare scenario for him up at 205 now.
And the cut to 185 is gonna be deadly for him now. Not to mention that his MW opponents will probably gameplan to exploit his defensive holes.
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Lukey finishes both Till and Marvin.
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Till and Vettori are already booked to fight one another and are frankly too highly-ranked for a guy who hasn't competed at Middleweight in over three years and hasn't won a fight there in what may end up being close to four by the time he actually ends up making the walk (and that was against David Branch of all people, a guy who's no longer in the UFC and wasn't exactly setting the world aflame when he was aside from a win over Santos).
I would like to see him fight Hermansson, who -- last I heard -- is still recovering from the beating Marvin gave him. An opponent ranked at #6 (or whatever it may be at that point) is more than fucking generous and should satiate his ego, despite the fact that he's coming off a loss. It's also a chance for Jack to get back in the saddle and reclaim a spot in the Top 5 by collecting the scalp of an ex-champion. His performance over Jacare was seen by many as a coming-out party, so maybe beating Luke could be a redemption arc? Conversely, Jack has proven to be a fairly solid fighter who is decently well-rounded and can hang at the fringe Top 5 in the modern Middleweight Division. If/when beats him, then he proves the sport hasn't left him behind and he can still hang.
It's also an interesting stylistic match-up IMO. Both guys are incredible submission grapplers and solid wrestlers. The thought of them contesting the bout on the mat? Yes please.
I would like to see him fight Hermansson, who -- last I heard -- is still recovering from the beating Marvin gave him. An opponent ranked at #6 (or whatever it may be at that point) is more than fucking generous and should satiate his ego, despite the fact that he's coming off a loss. It's also a chance for Jack to get back in the saddle and reclaim a spot in the Top 5 by collecting the scalp of an ex-champion. His performance over Jacare was seen by many as a coming-out party, so maybe beating Luke could be a redemption arc? Conversely, Jack has proven to be a fairly solid fighter who is decently well-rounded and can hang at the fringe Top 5 in the modern Middleweight Division. If/when beats him, then he proves the sport hasn't left him behind and he can still hang.
It's also an interesting stylistic match-up IMO. Both guys are incredible submission grapplers and solid wrestlers. The thought of them contesting the bout on the mat? Yes please.
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why not? People do it all the time lol, Chandler is pretty close to a title shot and he's beat Dan Hooker. He wasn't even champ in Bellator when he left.
This is a good fight even if it doesn't really make "sense" in terms of where Luke stands right now. Luke has shown in the past he is championship level, Vettori can fight him, get a big named W with a really good performance, and they can cut Luke n not pay him big bucks. It's a win win.
If Luke somehow wins, well, you have perhaps another intriguing contender in the division.
Weird how people say you can't have people jumping the line when people literally jump the line ALL the time.
And let's not act as if he's being kO'd by bums, he was KO'd at 205 vs Jan (the champ) and Yoel. The last middle of the pack fighter he fought (to be fair he did get rocked during it) was vs Branch and he won.
Edit, it can be Till, I'm fine with him fighting the loser of the bout.
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Till will knock Rockhold out easily
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If Luke gets anyone down in the top 10 it's over for them but his takedowns aren't all that great and Till still can put people down, normally he just can't finish them. With Rockhold, I doubt that will be an issue. The elbow he delivered to Whittaker would be enough IMO.
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Till would flatten him inside 3 minutes. Vettori would flatten him in about the same time. Luke would get smashed by almost anybody in the top 20. I honestly wouldn’t back him to win against anybody in the top 30 apart from one or possibly two fighters. He’s long done.
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I don't think that the loser of Vettori-Till versus him is a bad fight, I just think that it's unfair to the guy who has to take it. If Till loses and is moved all the way down to fringe 15ish, then maybe.
As has been mentioned in this thread, Luke doesn't really mean much at 185 at this point. His recent (and even saying "recent" is a stretch) losses have aged somewhat ok.... but the problem is his wins are all ancient. The only guy in the current top 15 in any weight that he's ever beaten is Weidman. Other than being an ex-champ he just has nothing current on his resume.
I do get what you're saying in that it's a good fight in that it's interesting. And yes, I'd look forward to Luke-Till more than 90% of the dreck they throw out there. But Rockhold is so low on the totem pole right now and there's very little longterm upside in him as an asset to the UFC.
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I’d be interested. Decent striker. Very good ground game. Squashing Weidman like a bug was no joke.
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IMO being a former champ (and it wasn’t THAT long ago) warrants a reasonable showcase. Doesn’t have to be Till, but it shouldn’t be a total no name either IMO.
I definitely wouldn’t go higher than Till (if he loses), Kelvin or Jack. Jacare or Weidman rematches wouldn’t be bad. Tavares or Heinisch at the absolutely worst.
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You want Costa to get humped again?
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He's going to have a hard time getting down to MW at his age with the miles on his body, I just can't see it. I'd like to see him get a win though but I'm not sure who he can fight, he should go out with a big name but most of the big names in his era have retired. I just hope he has worked on that boxing defense of his because he could easily get clocked again.
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I don't disagree with any of this, but the way Rockhold is wording it makes it seem like he feels like he's in the mix for the winner of Till-Vettori, which is a bridge too far. Till coming off a loss or Gastelum is fine.
If Holland were to lose to Brunson then Holland vs Rockhold feels like the perfect fight.
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Young luke would murk till and vettori. Right now i am 99%.sure vettori would finish him but he might still beat till. They are both shot imo. The till fight makes sense.
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Agree with the premise. He’s not a contender. He had very good skills but got knocked silly in three straight fights. Not sure that any fighter has ever come back from that and contended.
I’d probably spare him from Holland. Not that Holland is that great necessarily, but I don’t want to see Luke get badly sparked again. I’d rather take a fight to find out if he’s got any offense left first. If he does, then he can test his chin.
