Machida: Rockhold’s ground game doesn’t scare me
Lyoto Machida: “Luke Rockhold is a tough guy, is coming off a lot of wins, and it’s going to be a big fight. My focus is the title. I want to be the middleweight champion.”
UFC middleweight Luke Rockhold’s sole loss in his past 13 fights is to Vitor Belfort. He won the past three in an average time of 3:32, stopping Michael Bisping, Tim Boetsch, and Costas Philippou. Now Rockhold fights Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC on FOX 15 on April 18.
Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero also fight on the same card. The winner of one of the two fights is likely to get a shot at the winner of division champion Chris Weidman vs. Belfort at UFC 184 on Feb 28. Machida is aware of all it, and is intent on both getting a title again, and on the main event fight.
“Being in the main event again is great, and I want to give the fans a great performance,” said Machida to Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting.com.
“I think this is a good fight for me. He has a good striking, but I’m ready. If the fight goes to the ground, I will also be ready for everything he does, and I will try to surprise him as well. He’s a top 5, he’s been doing great in his fights and his ground game is really good, but I can go to the ground with him and do well. His ground game doesn’t scare me at all.”
“Every fight is different. I don’t look much to the past, I just see how he is today. It’s hard to say. I can see holes in his game. I haven’t studied his fights yet, but from what I already watched before, his fights in the UFC and Strikeforce, it’s a tough fight, but I’m confident. He’s a complete fighter.”
“I will go for the knockout or a submission, but I can’t make a prediction on how I’m going to win. He is really tough, so I can’t say much. We will have to wait and see.”
“Of course that I want to fight for the title, but that’s not something I’m thinking about right now. I have a tough fight ahead of me and I have to concentrate, but a win over Luke Rockhold will obviously put me right up there because we’re both close to fighting for the UFC title.
“2015 is going to be a great year, a year of big fights. I already have my first challenge. Rockhold called me out, and I’m ready. I want to become champion again. Rockhold is a tough guy, is coming off a lot of wins, and it’s going to be a big fight. My focus is the title. I want to be the middleweight champion.”