Luke Rockhold appreciates Israel Adesanya’s style but thinks he’s beatable in many ways

Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has made some comments about Israel Adesanya and said that he appreciates his style but also thinks he can beat Adesanya in many ways.

Luck Rockhold is preparing for his comeback fight soon. He hasn’t fought since his loss against Jan Blachowicz, which he lost via knockout. He then decided to retire from the sport in September of 2020 but now seems to have reignited the fire inside him and looks to come back stronger. He is also returning to his original weight class which is the middleweight division to fight.

In a recent interview, he talked about what would happen if he one day fights the current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold believes he has the tools to defeat current champ Israel Adesanya 🏆

(via @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/hDsdE4VbMk

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 25, 2021

“I know what Israel’s capable of. I’ve been studying Israel for a long time,” Rockhold said to ESPN. “I appreciate his style, but I think he’s beatable in so many ways. I don’t think many guys can fight him from the outside as I can.

“If I just stay relaxed and stay on the outside, it’s a game that I can play,” Rockhold continued. “And then if we go into the takedowns, I’ll do it a lot better than Jan did. I’ll tell you that.”

Israel Adesanya last fought at light-heavyweight against the champion Jan Blachowicz intending to capture the belt and become a two-division champion. But unfortunately, his dream was destroyed by the polish powerhouse Jan who used his strength and wrestling skills to get a decision victory over Adesanya.

Israel is now preparing to defend his title against Marvin Vettori in their rematch after Adesanya got his hands raised in their first fight in 2018. He has already defeated the best in his division including Romero, Whittaker, and Costa.

Luke Rockhold wants to fight a top 10 fighter

Former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion said he is trying to get himself a worthy opponent but no one from the top 10 rankings of the middleweight division wants to fight him.

“It’s really about fighting someone’s who’s going to fight,” Rockhold told Mike Swick on the “Real Quick with Mike Swick” podcast. “I need to fight a top 10 guy who’s ready to sack up and ready to fight. There are already multiple people in the top 10 making excuses why they don’t want to fight me. Who the f***k are you to turn down a fight? Where’s your entitlement and what you think you have?

“I’m not just going to fight anybody,” Rockhold said. “It’s like I want something that gets me excited, gets the fans excited and has a little momentum – something that makes somewhat of sense. So I want to come back in and I want to do this thing right.”

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