Luke Rockhold: 'I don't need to go on a dating show to find some money-grubbing girl'

Luke Rockhold

Luke Rockhold’s 2014 was a breakout year for one of the top middleweights in the world. Going 3-0 with three stoppages against some of the toughest middleweights in the world meant that Rockhold was getting it done on the sporting side of things, but he’s also been increasing his visibility outside of the cage.

Rockhold’s (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) public profile got another bump earlier this year when he appeared on an episode of Bravo TV’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” While his appearance came across poorly in the eyes of many, Rockhold insists that the majority of the issues came down to editing.

“I tried to just have fun with it and do my thing,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie Radio. “I had a good time doing it. Watching it come off – knew what I signed up for. I knew editing could make you look any way they want. I went in there and I tried to drop a lot of one-liners and just make a joke of the show and troll them a little bit. I’m not even going to lie they even took it to another level. I don’t need to go on a dating show to find some money-grubbing girl.”

Rockhold said his opportunity to appear on the reality series was arranged by the UFC when the show came calling.

“How it came about was they called the UFC asking if any of the guys would be good to show,” Rockhold said. “And a lightbulb went off in all the PR – above their heads. They immediately called me up. I’m always getting the dirty work. I’m always getting the pool parties, I’m getting ‘Millionaire Matchmaker,’ travel to Macao, all these destinations. I don’t like being around all these girls, traveling the world, checking out different cultures. It’s a rough job.”

More important than all that, of course, is Rockhold’s next fight. He will get a chance to headline UFC on FOX 15 on April 18 when he faces Lyoto Machida (22-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Machida has always represented a specific sort of puzzle for his opponents. No one fights quite like Machida at the highest levels of the sport. His mixture of counterstriking, karate and ability to defend takedowns has left most opponents befuddled.

Rockhold believes that he can come out of the fight having put on the most impressive performance of anyone in Machida’s career.

“I didn’t get into this sport for easy fights,” Kennedy said. “I like challenges. I respect Machida as a person and even more so as a fighter. He’s good and dangerous. There’s a way to beat him, and I’m looking to go out there and put on a performance against him that nobody ever has so far. I’m going to dominate him everywhere.

“That’s been my focus each fight: I want to go out and beat guys decisively like they haven’t been beat. I believe I did three of those this last year and I’m just going to look to improve on that this year. I get off on calculating it and figuring out a recipe to beat him more efficiently than anybody else. So, I watched everybody’s fight. I’m formulating a plan to be even better than all those guys and put him away. I want to be flawless with my victory.”

For Rockhold, the opportunity also exists to send a message to UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. Weidman and Machida put on a brilliant fight at UFC 175, ending with Weidman’s hand raised via unanimous decision.

Rockhold does not deny that beating Machida more impressively than Weidman is something that has crossed his mind.

“One-hundred percent – I want to finish him,” Weidman said. “I’m not going to force the issue when I’m in there. But I’m planning on going out there and finishing him.

“If I can go out there and finish him – something Chris couldn’t do – it’d speak volumes.”

For more on UFC on FOX 15, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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