Den enda förlusten som Luke Rockhold (13-2) har är mot Vitor Belfort (24-10), efter den förlusten har han nu vunnit sina senaste tre matcher. Lyoto Machida (22-5) tar sig an Rockhold på UFC on Fox 15 den 18 april och Machida är mer än redo för Rockholds grappling.
Machida förklarar att han är mer än redo att grapplas med Rockhold.
”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.”
Machida är väldigt självsäker inför matchen och vet att han vinner, men är inte riktigt säker på hur.
”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.”
Machidas mål är att bli mellanviktsmästare, men hans fokus just nu ligger på matchen mot Rockhold.
”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.”
