They were calling this one of the best middleweight championship matchups of all time. Luke Rockhold, former Strikeforce champion, further legitimized the fallen organization with his victory over Chris Weidman. This fight was basically a toss-up going into it, but Rockhold edged out the win and handed Weidman his first career loss.
Rockhold worked them kicks like they were nothing. Photo by Sherdog.com.
The first two and a half rounds were competitive. Rockhold worked his striking and amazing BJJ while Chris Weidman moved forward, looking for takedowns. The turning point in the fight came towards the end of the third, when Weidhman threw a strange-looking spinning kick that got him taken down, mounted, and then hammered with elbows for a solid minute.
He was saved by the bell in the third, but looked awful in the fourth, getting worked over against the cage by Rockhold before getting taken down for the first time in his career. He wouldn’t survive from there, getting pounded on until it came to an end.
Chris Weidman is now beltless. We’ll see how things go for him from here.
Rockhold had been calling Weidman a “flavorless champion”, so let’s see how Luke’s title run will look.
Luke Rockhold beat Jacare to win the Strikeforce title and defended it against Keith Jardine and Tim Kennedy before coming over to the UFC, where he was welcomed with a loss to Vitor Belfort. Since then, Rockhold had gone 4-0 and climbed his way back up to a title shot. Make that 5-0 with his win over Weidman.
“He trains with a bunch of jabronis. I train with champions”- Luke Rockhold
So what’s next for Rockhold, and Weidman?
Don’t forget that a roided up Belfort cold-cocked Rockhold.
This potentially sets Weidman up for another payday against Anderson, if he’s up for a third tango. There are plenty of people who still don’t think Weidman’s first two wins over Anderson were legitimate, even thought The Chris went on to defeat guys like Machida and Belfort to cement his championship.
There’s a murderer’s row of challengers waiting for their shot at Luke Rockhold. Yoel Romero? Sure. Weidman again? Why not. Vitor Belfort? Definitely possible.
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