Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold still wants a piece of Sean Strickland, it seems, even after Strickland succumbed to a vicious knockout loss at the hands of Alex Pereira at UFC 276. Appearing on Submission Radio, Rockhold once again took the chance to remind the world that he thinks Sean Strickland is “f****** dumb”.
“I think he got conned by the system. Sean, he just proved how f****** dumb he is. The system wanted him to try and stand with him and prove that stupid point, and he just [fell for it]. It happens. It happens to a lot of people. You try to over-prove yourself and do something stupid. That’s the game, that’s the fight game. It’s a mental f***** battle, and he lost the battle.”
Rockhold: Strickland “proved how f****** dumb he is”
As for Strickland’s opponent, Luke Rockhold finds the Pereira-Adesanya meta-narrative as intriguing as anyone else. Pereira defeated Adesanya twice back in their GLORY kickboxing days, and is now gunning for the middleweight champ. “Yeah, it’s an intriguing story, Alex Pereira has beat Izzy twice.
And so you’re looking at any level of intrigue, and so they’re looking for someone that they can throw in the mix, even though Alex Pereira would get mauled by, 20 guys in the UFC would probably maul him. But yeah, it’s a compelling story if you get him past a brawler like Sean Strickland. So, they did it, and it’s up and going. So, it’s my job to go f****** deter that.”
Rockhold is set to take on Paulo Costa at UFC 278 this August, and he wants in on the title conversation, hoping that a victory this August will get him there.
““Anything is possible with this fight and in this fight. Of course. I mean, Marvin Vettori is the No. 1 guy in the world, right? Or Whittaker? Paulo’s only been smoked by Izzy. Vettori barely, he didn’t do anything great against him last time. So, if I can go out there and smoke him, it’s gonna tell.
I know how to fight Izzy. It’s a straightforward fight. He’s a tough fight, man. He’s a big puzzle. He’s the most complicated puzzle there is at middleweight that there’s been for a long time. So, it’s going to be interesting. But I think with the right game, that’s my fight. We were talking the other night and I think the hardest fight for me right now is Whittaker. But if I play the right game with many of these guys, it’s my fight. So, I just gotta be level-headed and focused and f****** go out there and do my thing.”
Do you agree with Sean Strickland? Let us know in the comments.
