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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=450317" target="_blank">
Machida: Rockhold's ground game doesn't scare me
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=450317" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=80&q=75&x=47&y=35&w=310&h=165&ro=0&s=machida-rockhold-08-20-2014-23-4-32-420.jpg" /></a>
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<p>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.</p>
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."
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