Luke Rockhold and Strikeforce Never Die
Luke Rockhold: “Look at us now. Myself, Yoel Romero, Tim Kennedy and Jacare. There’s Chris Weidman, and the rest of us are all from Strikeforce.”
Since the collapse of PRIDE in 2007, it has been widely assumed that nearly every top fighter in mixed martial arts was in the UFC. However, when the UFC bought Strikeforce in 2011, that theory was put to a test.
In a testament to the efforts of founder Scott Coker and matchmaker Rich Chou, of the 10 UFC divisions, four are currently held by Strikeforce veterans – Fabrico Werdum, Daniel Cormier, Robbie Lawler, and Ronda Rousey.
Another Strikeforce vet, Luke Rockhold, is going to have an opportunity to make it five. In a recent interview, Rockhold took issue with the UFCcentric fans, and points out that Strikeforce lent the UFC both a breadth of talent, and depth.
“Tim Kennedy never got the respect he deserved,” said Rockhold to Dave Doyle for MMAFighting.com. “Look at us now. Myself, Yoel Romero, Tim Kennedy and Jacare. There’s Weidman, and the rest of us are all from Strikeforce.”
“I fought Jacare, Jacare was ranked No. 5 in the world, maybe even higher at the point I fought him. And instead of giving me the credit, because I was the kid from Strikeforce Challengers who people didn’t believe in, this happened a lot, they took credit away from Jacare for who he was and what he’s capable of, and bumped me to like No. 10 and put him outside to like No. 15. How does that levy out?”
“People are closed-minded. They believe in the hype train of the UFC. You’ve got to give the UFC credit for making people believe it is the best talent. I’m just glad to be here and finally get the credit I deserve.”
Luke Rockhold fights UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 194 on December 12, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
