Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold fancies his chances against Alex Pereira. During his commentary debut at Karate Combat on Saturday, Rockhold claimed that he would “kill” Alex Pereira on the ground if they ever fought.
Luke Rockhold vs. Alex Pereira
The 38-year-old former champion didn’t mince his words when discussing his chances against Pereira. “Any day with Pereira. Give me ten seconds on the ground, I’ll f****ng kill that motherf****r,” said a confident Rockhold.
Anyone with mixed martial arts knowledge will know that Rockhold is a world class grappler. He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well as a No-Gi and Gi world champion. In a hypothetical matchup, Rockhold may well cause Pereira problems on the ground, but whether or not he could get the fight there remains to be seen.
This isn’t the first time that the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight has teased a fight with the Brazilian. He told Submission Radio that if Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya in their middleweight title bout back in November, then he would consider coming back to the UFC to fight Pereira.
“That Brazilian dude winning the title, Alex Pereira. He’s going to have ever wrestler in the f****ng game just champing at the bit to get that guy. Let’s go! Let’s get that free belt,” said Rockhold.
Pereira did indeed win the fight in dramatic fashion and Rockhold came out of retirement in March, but instead of making a UFC comeback he turned his attention to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
Adesanya beat Pereira by knockout in the rematch in April and Pereira made the move to light heavyweight soon after. ‘Poatan’ will face the Polish power of Jan Blachowicz in his UFC LHW debut.
Rockhold Keeping His Options Open
Back in August last year, Rockhold took on Paulo Costa in a middleweight clash filled with violence. Rockhold lost by unanimous decision, but the back and forth battle won fight of the night.
He declared his retirement from MMA after that war, but expressed interest in fighting for another organisation in the future. The American signed for BKFC at the beginning of March and fought Mike Perry at the end of April. He lost by TKO after losing teeth during another brutal encounter.
At his Karate Combat appearance, he told BloodyElbow that a fight in KC is a possibility. “Being part of a promotion like this and it’s just intriguing. I like it, so you never know,” said Rockhold.
It seems as if Luke Rockhold is exploring his options. It’s unlikely that we have seen the last of him in combat sports.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
