Issue 096

December 2012

From the mats and waves, the skateboard park and even mountain ridges – adrenaline junkie Luke Rockhold finally discovered MMA, and now has his sights set on the pound-for-pound top spot

Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. His performances, as of late, have been stellar and his growth as a fighter has been seen by many MMA fans as he’s spent the majority of his career under the Strikeforce banner, winning the title in a matter of years

 In hindsight, it could’ve all been so different for the American Kickboxing Academy man, and in an exclusive interview with Fighters Only, Rockhold explains how he could’ve gone down a much different path.                    

From the day Luke Rockhold was born, he’s had big shoes to fill. With a father who played basketball in Europe and the NBA, two brothers who excelled in sports and a sister who trains in BJJ, competition was inevitably going to be a big part of his life. 

Often, when a person is born into a family that is obsessed with the same thing, they rebel and do something totally different, but according to Rockhold this was far from the case with him.

“I was definitely the crazy sports kid,” he says with a chuckle. “I was always looking for a rush or a thrill when it came to sports, or anything that involved competition. I’m a really competitive and active person, so I always wanted to be out and doing stuff. I’d be involved in any sport I could do, in any season just to be involved.

“As I got older, the more I could go my own way, the crazier the sports got, and the more adrenaline I would try to get out of it. That’s kind of where I base my life. From my parents pushing me into soccer, baseball and basketball, then when I wanted to do things my way it changed to wrestling, fighting and jiu-jitsu and stuff like that.”

But being brought up in a family filled with exceptional athletes isn’t all fun and games. With every member achieving a standard in at least some area of sports, Rockhold certainly felt the pressure to succeed.

“Being the youngest definitely pushed me to work harder,” he explains.” I grew up with the big boys beating on me all the time, so I got tough pretty quickly. My other brother was a really talented athlete too, but it doesn’t always work out for everyone. He had a couple of knee injuries, but he was a volleyball and basketball player. He had a bunch of scholarships, but just couldn’t make it happen.

“Some may not have liked the pressure, but for me it was cool. I don’t know anything different when it comes to growing up in a certain situation. We’re an athletic family and I couldn’t imagine anything different. It’s kind of hard to think of it in any other way.”

Rockhold was introduced to the world of jiu-jitsu by his sister and her husband, and for a while he dabbled between both mats, as he wrestled at high school. And, even though he hadn’t made the decision to become a mixed martial artist at this point, he had a brief encounter with it whilst at a wrestling training camp.

 “I wouldn’t be the one to start a fight, but I wasn’t afraid to stand up for myself or my friends. I didn’t know too much about MMA or the UFC, but there was this one time at camp, where me and this kid went at it,” recalls Rockhold. “I double-legged him onto the bed, mounted him and tried for some kind of head and arm choke. 

“I’m not really sure I even knew what the hell I was doing, but I’m squeezing the hell out of his head. He reaches up and double fishhooks me on both sides of my mouth and completely rips my lips apart. It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt. I begin to freak out and start to elbow the crap out of him. I was hammering him in the face until he let go. My smile has never been the same since. I like to think of it as my first real introduction to MMA (laughs). It made me strive to get better.”

 You’d think with his wrestling skills and jiu-jitsu chops, Rockhold would’ve had MMA on his mind as a possible career path as soon as he graduated. After all, even after finishing wrestling in high school, he was still competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments across California. However, he reveals the lure of following in the footsteps of his older brother and professional surfer, Matt, was a temptation he simply couldn’t resist at first.

Rockhold says: “I got more serious into skateboarding and surfing after I finished wrestling. It’s such a tough world to make it in, but I was good. I was certainly thinking about trying to go the professional route, but I was just all over the place. I was surfing, I was skating, I was doing jiu-jitsu, I was mountain biking. I was really spreading myself too thin. I was good at everything, but I wasn’t great at one thing.”

However, when he realized MMA was a realistic option, Rockhold instantly knew he’d found his true calling. He’d finally found something he wasn’t just good at, he was great at. His journey began at AKA, training under the likes of Javier Mendez and Bob Cook, and learning the tricks of the trade. Rockhold quickly became a top prospect, only losing once in three years, and finishing all of his opponents inside the first round. 

But then, just as he was beginning to catch waves of a different kind, his 6-0 unbeaten Strikeforce run came to an abrupt end in the form of a shoulder injury, which curtailed his blossoming career for more than 18 months. “I’ve never really had a shoulder injury like that before and your shoulder really does everything,” says the 28-year-old. 

“It would feel good in certain ways, but I’d make one wrong move and it would hurt again. I started to get better and ended up re-injuring myself. It was a long 19 months and I definitely questioned a lot of things in my head. That’s why I was at the gym trying to work around it.”

Eventually, Rockhold made it back from the injury and was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to pick up where he left off, as number-one challenger for the Strikeforce middleweight title. However, in his absence the belt had changed hands. Brazilian powerhouse Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza had emerged and left Rockhold facing the biggest test of his career.

After tapping out Matt Lindland and outscoring Joey Villasenor, Jacare had won the vacant championship against Tim Kennedy and was fresh from choking out Robbie Lawler in his inaugural defense – the final three all achieved while Rockhold was sat on the sidelines.

However, the Santa Cruz native typically jumped straight back in at the deep end and was rewarded with an emphatic five-round points decision to be crowned the new Strikeforce champion. Yet, even though he produced the performance of his life to win the belt, Rockhold admits he can’t actually remember much of what happened in September 2011.

“I remember a lot of fights, but for some reason that Jacare fight is like a blur,” he admits. “My emotions were running so high during that fight. I can’t remember a word my corner said to me during all five rounds and in between them. 

“In fact, it’s hard to remember most of the fight without re-watching it. I remember after the fight, it was very emotional, which is kind of obvious because I was crying like a little girl (laughs). I was realizing I’d finally made it, and that this was a huge step. It’s hard to explain what I was feeling at the time.”

Rockhold defended his title twice in the first part of 2012, knocking out Keith Jardine and winning a convincing decision against perennial contender Kennedy. And in October had been forced to pull out from a third defense, against dangerous striker Lorenz Larkin in November. And whilst his sights were firmly set on his latest challenger, currently 10-1 Rockhold can’t help but consider that the grass maybe greener over the fence.

He adds: “There are some tough challenges ahead of me. I’ve got the possibility of a second Jacare fight. Then there is Roger Gracie, who had a decent performance in his last fight against Jardine. And Lorenz Larkin made a name for himself in his last fight too (against Robbie Lawler on the same card), but I want to fight Anderson Silva. I want to be the best and I can’t be the best over here in Strikeforce, no matter how good I do. You’ve got to beat the best to be the best and that’s what I want to do. I want those fights.”