Luke Rockhold and UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker touched down in Australia recently to begin promoting their upcoming UFC 221 main event from the Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia.
Rockhold, a former champion, returned from an extended layoff to submit David Branch earlier this year. The ex-Strikeforce titleholder believes his resume speaks for itself when discussing his status as the No. 1 contender.
“No doubt. It’s about time. It’s been a rough ride but we’ve finally navigated our way through the mess and you got the best two guys duking it out for the world title,” said Rockhold (thanks to Submission Radio for the quotes). “I know I’ve proven myself, I’ve accomplished things in this sport, whereas little midgets like Kelvin Gastelum haven’t. I’ve destroyed Chris Weidman, which he got destroyed by Weidmam. This kid hasn’t beaten really anybody and done anything in this sport, and for him to run his mouth, it’s pretty funny. It’s laughable. He’ll find out real if he continues his efforts at 185. I’d slap that kid down real quick. Real quick.”
Rockhold was also asked his thoughts on Georges St-Pierre relinquishing the 185-pound belt after besting Michael Bisping for it.
I knew it was gonna happen,” he said. “I’m not bummed on that, I’m bummed on the UFC for putting that together and thinking that he actually would defend the title. And putting that into his contract – come on, man, you can’t force anybody to do anything. When you give a guy a paycheck like that, you ain’t dictating what he does.”
When he was moving up the middleweight ladder, Rockhold found his home at American Kickboxing Academy alongside the likes of Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now that the gym has experienced some turnover, though, Rockhold is training in Florida once more for this fight – just like he did prior to the meeting with Branch.
“I did my last camp in Florida with Henri (Hooft) and the whole team out there, and I’ve got a great thing going,” he said. “You know, I got complacent back home and did some things. It’s nice to just get away, get a clear head and have nothing to hold me back in a new environment. I’m inspired, I got a lot of good people around me. You know, AKA’s not what it used to be.
“You get guys filtering in and out, but, I mean, Cain’s been injured, Khabib’s always in Russia, DC’s doing TV. I gotta look out for myself. I love my brothers and my team out there and you’ll see a lot of them in my corner I’m sure, but this is time to be the best I can be and think about myself right now.”