Luke Rockhold’s confidence, much like his weight, is higher than ever ahead of his fight with Jan Blachowicz tonight at UFC 239, and that is because Rockhold is in a division the former middleweight champion believes will reap big rewards for him: light heavyweight. Rockhold is satisfied with his opponent tonight, and the feeling is mutual, because Blachowicz plans on giving Rockhold a welcome to the light heavyweight division all right, just not the one he is expecting:
“Yes, of course [I’m happy to be welcoming him to the light heavyweight division],” Blachowicz told MMA Fighting. “I can’t wait to step into the Octagon and start punching Luke Rockhold. So, yes, I’m really excited about this.”
Luke Rockhold has been pretty forthright about seeing Jan Blachowicz as a stepping stone to Jon Jones, and Blachowicz has felt disrespected as a result. When the two meet in the Octagon, he plans to remedy this:
“Trash talking doesn’t work on me,” Blachowicz said. “I don’t care, he can say what he wants to say, he has to say something. I don’t care; I don’t listen to him.”
“You know why he’s [talking about fighting Jones]? Because he’s scared of me,” he added. “He’s thinking about different fighters and not me because he doesn’t respect me. I’ll teach him to respect me in the fight. Everyone keeps sending me emails and messages telling me to knock him out because he is not a good person.”
“I will shock the world if that’s how you want to put it,”
Blachowicz concluded. “Every time I visualize the fight I see myself knocking him out in the second round with my left hand.”
What is your prediction for Luke Rockhold vs. Jan Blachowicz tonight at UFC 239?
