Luke Rockhold Makes Case For Why He’s a Bigger Threat at 205

Luke Rockhold was long regarded as one of the best middleweights on the planet. But, according to the former UFC champ, he’s going to be an even bigger threat in the promotion’s light-heavyweight division.

Rockhold had talked about moving up to 205 as far back as 2017. After Rockhold was taken out by Yoel Romero last February, the expectation was that he’d make the jump up. But, it wasn’t until after a scheduled fight with Chris Weidman last November fell through (due to injury) that Rockhold decided to make the move. Up next, at UFC 239, July 6th, he’ll take on light-heavyweight contender, Jan Blachowicz.

So how is Rockhold feeling about his decision? Well, the 34-year-old recently appeared on “The MMA Hour”, and here’s is some of what he had to say (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“It just got harder and harder [at 185 pounds], and depleting myself more and more as the years went on, and man, I just wasn’t recovering. I didn’t have the strength. You can kinda see it as I go along, it’s just a lack of not recovering and getting back to full strength. Even in training camp, I’d get down to a certain weight the last few years, and I would just, I’d feel weak and depleted. When I had a little extra girth, I was doing a lot better. I could handle just about anybody at any weight. And so now, actually lifting and eating right and not depriving myself, it’s a different world. I’m excited to get in there and show the world.”

“It’s a hell of a lot better, I’ll tell you that,” Rockhold said. “Obviously the extra muscle, it kinda keeps everything intact. And a lot of those injuries happen at the end of training camp, when I’m depleting myself and getting down to weight and your body fat gets low. Your body becomes brittle. So I’m far less injury prone [at 205 pounds] and I’m looking forward to getting f*cking swinging, swinging with weight and some muscle.

When you consider Rockhold is in his mid-thirties now, it’s not surprising to hear that he’s feeling much healthier and powerful at this weight (since he doesn’t have to keep the weight off). His longtime teammate Daniel Cormier certainly benefited from not cutting down to 205.

But, it will be interesting to see how Rockhold does against the division’s bigger, taller fighters like the champ, Jon Jones, Johnny Walker or Alexander Gustafsson. At 6’3, Rockhold rarely gave up length or reach competing in the middleweight division.