Luke Rockhold
My mom is, like, my biggest fan of my fight world, which is funny 'cause you'd think it'd be the opposite.Collection: Mom
My dad was a professional basketball player, and my mom was a hell of a tennis player.Collection: Mom
I'm a betting man. I like to gamble everywhere, everything I do.
I just don't see how it is possible to be a vegetarian or vegan when you break your body down so much. You have to recover. You need those proteins and proper amino acids, like leucine, which only really comes from animal fats.
When I was a kid, when I was first getting excited about the opposite sex, fragrance was the thing. If you look good, you smell good, and you feel good.
I was supposed to fight a guy back in the day. He didn't shower, specifically to throw off his opponents. Thank God I got injured, and I couldn't fight the fight. I was so worried about it. I was like, 'Oh my God - I heard about this guy.' It was the worst ever.
I think it's important to be subtle, sweet, and powerful.
I've done all my bike circuit cardio workouts when I know I gotta push my numbers higher and I gotta be better than I was before. It sucks. Your body doesn't want to do it, but I've done that. I know I have that in me.
When you're tense and you're forcing the issue, you kind of cloud your vision, so I think just being confident and super relaxed, waiting for my timing, has really helped me.
I've taken my beatings and learned how to get around and succeed against the big guys.
I think every fight helps for the next.
I'm not here to dance around. I'm here to fight for titles.
I've been chasing some paychecks. Modeling. I don't discriminate against paychecks. I've got to pay the bills.
Injuries are tough. I tore my ACL 50 percent in my left leg. I can't kick. I'm not going to fight without my left leg, which is my best weapon.
In fighting, when someone's signed up to fight me, I'm not humble. I've never been humble.
I don't understand people who just live to exist, live to be OK. Live to be regular, live to be average. It doesn't make any sense to me. I live to be the best. I don't live to be good. You only get one life, and I live to be great. I live to be special.
I'm in the pursuit of excellence. One foot at a time, one camp at a time.
I want to put on performances no one else has. I want to be flawless every time.
I think Georges St-Pierre is a joke.
People probably don't give me the credit I deserve for holding the Strikeforce title, but the people who do know, know.
Compared to some other guys at 205, of course, I'll be a little small. But I've never tried to just physically go for it, bulk up, lift weights.
Every time I'm in training mode, I've had to monitor what I'm eating. I'll break 210 and be around 215 pounds. I know what it takes to compete with the best guys at 205. I've trained with them.
To have the athletes weigh in on a stage, televised, it makes no sense. Holding us at weight to run us through medicals and a staging process, it lengthens the time we're depleting ourselves.
I'm not one to turn down opportunities.
Men back up their words. Little boys run away.
I don't like talking about cheaters.
I like big fights.
I always believed in myself.
I defended my Strikeforce belt twice, and you didn't see me lose any of my intensity, drive, or motivation. That's just the way I am. I will always be hungry.
I will always be motivated to improve until I feel I've achieved my potential.
I always knew what I could do in there and believed that I would win the world title. But when it actually happens, when your dreams all come true, it is the culmination of a life's work. The feeling you get, I don't have words for it. I don't know how to describe it.
If I get a guy that can take my shots and withstand my arsenal for the first round or two, I think you're going to see the best of me coming forward.
I get more relaxed. I get looser. I get more technical, I get faster, and you get to see way more of my game in the later rounds. In sparring, a lot of my best rounds are my third and my fourth. My fifth rounds are sometimes my best of all.
I start kind of stiff, and then I understand the movement, the distance, and then I can start loosening up. That's how fighting should be. That's how I try to keep my mind.
Aggression has proven to get people in trouble, in many ways, with the champions.
All I care is I've got the belt.
The highs and lows of Vitor Belfort, I would not want to be that guy. Be on top of the world getting all these 'knockouts of the night' and all these awards of the year and then all of a sudden get shunned into the shadows. He leads a shady life, and it seems like karma might be coming back.
I like fighting clean. I've always fought clean, and I want to fight clean people. I want to fight fair.
When you show me the right contract, I'll sign the right contract.
I'm not going to take off time and lose money to go fight.
I'm doing very well outside the cage.
The heart of the sport is about the top guys fighting each other. This isn't WWE; this is fighting.
I think me and Werdum got some old beef from Strikeforce. He's a guy I've always wanted to fight. I've thought it through, and I like the style matchup.
Bisping is a tough guy. You can't write him off. He's good at everything. He's been able to beat some of the top guys out there because he can expose their weaknesses.
I'm one of the most well-rounded fighters out there.
Maybe people overlook me because of the way I talk or the way I look. I don't know.
Cardio is king. This is how you make sure you don't wear out in the fight.
To be stronger, you finish everything you start. You can't take a break.
I have that brawler's mentality, and I can get into that realm, but when I'm at my best is when I'm patient, precise, and technical.
I used to goof off a lot.