Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has a renewed zest for MMA competition after hitting rock bottom earlier this year, using a recent personal tragedy to sober up and get back into the fight game at UFC 278 in August.
Fellow middleweight Marvin Vettori remains unimpressed.
āLuke is a pussy,ā Vettori told MMA Junkie. āThatās all you guys need to know. Luke is a pussy, but Iām gonna give you this: He wanted the fight with Paulo, and Paulo has been bitching out. I donāt think Paulo can make 185 anymore, but Luke is a bitch. Thatās all you guys need to know. He likes to talk, heās been on and off, heās probably broke right now, he wants to make some money. He was a champ for one time. I guess weāve got to give him that, but other than that, I donāt make much out of him. More than anything heās a pussy.ā
Rockhold collides with āpatheticā 185-pound bruiser Paulo Costa in Salt Lake City.
It will be interesting to see which version of Rockhold competes at UFC 278. The part-time model was once considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world but is coming off back-to-back knockout losses and hasnāt competed since summer 2019.
Perhaps a victory over Costa can land him the winner of this fight?
Luke vs Vettori would be good. If Luke loses than definite retirement.
liked him more with his shorts on backwards
Not it does not. It just means he had a little momentum and you can ignore it, but the division is shallow. Just because heās in some ranking does not make him A level. Thatās judged by his skills and he doesnāt have enough of those.
Vettori has nothing for Izzy or Whittaker. Unless they fall off a cliff he is irrelevant to the title picture.
Pretty much. Vettori is a pretty strong grappler and tough as nails but thatās it. He has ok striking and no sub game. He had hit his ceiling imo and I donāt see him breaking top 3 again. He just doesnāt have the skill set to beat Izzy or Whitaker
Have to admit I bet Vettori would give Pereira big problems though. I donāt think Alex is ready for that smoke ā¦yet
Marvin being top 5 says a lot about the skill level of the 185ers.
185 is pretty bad but why is this division so lacking? I get why hvwt is bad but youād think they could get a group of killers at 185
Itās almost like guys would rather do something else than get paid peanuts for life altering injuries.
Iām not saying its close to the deepest division in the sport but MW is a little deeper than you guys are making it soundā¦
Mousasi, Eblen, Fabian Edwards, Tokov over at Bellator.
Adesanya, Whittaker, Pereira, Cannonier, Brunson, Costa up there in the UFC besides Vettori.
Gastelum, Till, Strickland, Hermansson around.
Andre Muniz cliimbing the ranks as is Du Plessis. So are Brendan Allen, Chris Curtis and Phil Hawes.
Bo Nickal is gonna be making a lot of noise real soon here.
Iām predicting a Chimaev vs Nickal title fight by the end of next year or in 2024.
If Marvin isnt āA levelā, then nobody is. Heās boring, but heās elite. Top 5 rank in the world is literally as high as a fighter can get without a belt.
Ishii is also A level in the sense that heās a mainstay in the major orgs - probably B level amongst that group, but still a very talented fighter
His ranking doesnt make him A level, it just means the division sucks right now. At one point in the UFC we had Weidman, Rockhold, Jacare, Romero, and Mousasi, all in their prime. Plus TRT Vitor, Machida, and Silva was still competitive. They all got old and the new guard isnt as good. Thats all it is.
Nah