When Strikeforce closed its doors for good in Jan. 2013, Luke Rockhold stood atop the middleweight division. The American Kickboxing Academy standout was a homegrown superstar – a fighter that debuted on one of the organization’s "Young Guns" events, progressed through the Challengers series and capped his career in the San Jose-based organization with three consecutive championship conquests.
Arriving in the UFC, the laid back Californian was given an immediate chance to establish himself in his new surroundings with a main event assignment opposite Vitor Belfort in Brazil, but it wasn’t meant to be. Fighting "The Phenom" on his home turf in 2013 wasn’t favourable for anyone. Rockhold became the second of three straight opponents that ended up on Belfort’s sizzle reel, suffering a first-round knockout loss that brought his nine-fight winning streak to an abrupt halt.
Things have gone demonstratively better for Rockhold in 2014 as the former Strikeforce champion has returned to the form that made him an immediate contender upon his arrival in the UFC a year earlier, picking up a pair of first-round stoppage wins.
In January, he showcased his elite striking skills in a main event pairing with Costas Philippou. Maintaining space and avoiding the Long Islander’s heavy hands, Rockhold ended the fight with a pair of thunderous left body kicks that left Philippou clutching his midsection, crumpled in defeat along the cage.
Four months later, Rockhold showed he’s no slouch on the canvas either after picking up a first-round submission victory over Tim Boetsch, forcing "The Barbarian" to tap to an inverted triangle choke that he paired with a Kimura for good measure.
The performances trumped his loss to Belfort and put Rockhold back on the radar as a potential championship contender. He can solidify that standing even further if he’s able to pick up a win over Michael Bisping Friday night in Sydney.
Rockhold and Bisping have been circling each other for months – the former having called out the latter as soon as he arrived in the UFC, the latter never lacking in willingness to trade both verbal jabs and actual strikes with anyone. After missing each other earlier in the year, this weekend’s return to Australia proved to be the perfect meeting place for these top-10 middleweights to settle their grudge inside the Octagon.
But this is more than your standard bout to resolve differences between two fighters – it could also place the winner into a potential No. 1 contenders bout early in 2015 as well.
Where Bisping stands in the pecking order has long been established – he’s been a fixture in the upper tier of the division since arriving there from light heavyweight, but has always remained one fight shy of challenging for the championship. Rockhold, however, doesn’t have as extensive a history in the division – at least not under the UFC banner – and stands out as a potential threat to champion Chris Weidman should they cross paths at some point in the future.
What differentiates him from the others queuing up to challenge for the title are his ability to adjust on the fly, the diverse arsenal he brings into the cage and his natural athleticism. No matter where the fight goes or how long it drags out, he is equipped to face the challenge.
That is something Weidman hasn’t faced as of yet and part of what allows Rockhold to stand apart from other potential contenders. The other piece is the résumé he’s building in the Octagon and the list of conquests that came before his move to the UFC.
Memories are somewhat short when it comes to fighting and as a result, Rockhold’s triumphs under the Strikeforce banner have kind of been glossed over when assessing where he stands in the middleweight division. Coupled with his loss to Belfort last year, the AKA product faced a longer climb to contention than some of his fellow alums, including a pair of fighters he’s already defeated in the past.
Prior to arriving in the UFC, Rockhold picked up decision wins over both Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Tim Kennedy, besting each in championship bouts. In both contests, Rockhold’s well-rounded skill set and elite conditioning were on full display and though both fights went the distance, the scores came back unanimous in his favour in each instance.
Souza has rocketed passed Rockhold since transitioning to fighting in the Octagon, collecting four straight victories to rise to No. 2 in the divisional rankings. Kennedy currently sits at No. 7, two spots behind Rockhold, but that’s largely on the basis of a third-round loss to another Strikeforce vet, Yoel Romero, at UFC 178. Before that, the Army Ranger picked up a trio of victories, including a win against Bisping in April.
If he’s able to match Kennedy’s achievement on Friday, Rockhold could very well find himself getting reacquainted with Souza in a No. 1 contender’s bout at some point in 2015.
Though he’s currently recovering from elbow surgery, "Jacare" has already established himself atop the list of potential future challengers and a third straight win for Rockhold will put him next on that list. With Weidman and Belfort not scheduled to fight until UFC 184 at the end of February, a late winter contest to determine the next challenger would allow for a middleweight championship fight to take place in the summer.
He’s got some work to do still, but make no mistake about it: Luke Rockhold has the skills to be UFC middleweight champion.