Luque v Chiesa has been a long time coming. Should the fight go ahead this weekend, it will mark the end of a long road, with Luque initially believing he’d be facing Chiesa much earlier this year.
Vicente Luque knows that both he and Michael Chiesa are dangerous fighters. Stylistically, it’s the sort of striking vs grappling matchup that harkens back to the early days of the UFC. If the fight goes the distance, Luque sees it as a guaranteed fight of the night contender.
Luque Expects Chiesa Bout to Earn Fight of the Night Honors
Luque told Just Scrap Radio:
“On paper, it’s a grappler vs striker kind of fight. There’s no secret I’m going to go out there to strike with him and try to knock him out.
He’s going to go out there and try and get me down and submit me.
That’s what he does and what I do is strike. But, I also have a ground game, I’m good at jiu-jitsu, I can complicate the ground game.
He’s a better grappler than I am because he focuses a lot on that and is dangerous, but I can pull something off and surprise him.
In the standup, I have better striking and can pressure him and that’s what I’m going to look to do. My kind of pressure is tough to handle so we’ll see.
If he can handle it, it will be the Fight of the Night, if not I think I can get a finish.”
Luque continued, elaborating on his plans for the fight, and how he sees the fight going down. He expects Chiesa to try and get the fight to the ground as early as possible to avoid taking damage on the feet, but Luque will want to take advantage of that. We’ve seen botched takedown attempts end fights before, most notably when Jorge Masvidal put Ben Askren to sleep in only seven seconds via flying knee.
Vicente Luque, with 11 knockout victories to his name, knows that he can put opponents away with his heavy, high-pressure striking. Luque is no slouch on the ground, however, as the native Brazilian also boasts a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Notably, he defeated Tyron Woodley with a Brabo choke earlier this year.
Luque concluded by reiterating this point.
“Every time I step in there, I imagine me knocking my opponent out, especially because of my style.
I’m always looking for the finish.
I have submissions as well but I always see the knockout.”
Do you think Luque can finish Chiesa, or will we see a gruelling war on Saturday night? Let us know in the comments.
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