Luke Rockhold: Illegal elbow on Lyoto Machida? Blood spurts from 'top of his ear'

It’s a good time to be Luke Rockhold, who likely cinched up a title shot with a remarkable recent performance. However, he still takes issue with complaints that his win over Lyoto Machida resulted from an illegal blow.

Rockhold (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) picked up his fourth consecutive stoppage win after submitting ex-champ Lyoto Machida (22-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) in the second round of UFC on FOX 15’s main event on April 18.

The network-televised victory likely earned the former Strikeforce champion a shot at the winner of UFC 187’s co-headliner between middleweight champ Chris Weidman (12-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and Vitor Belfort (24-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC), which takes place May 23. But immediately after his win over Machida, Rockhold heard the complaints that the rear-naked-choke victory was set up from an illegal elbow that he threw from back-mount.

“The elbow was completely clean,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie during a recent interview. “I don’t know what you want. The thing was right across the side of the head. It wasn’t nowhere near the back of the head. … If you watch the slo-mo, as I hit him and they show it, it hits right on the side of the head, and the blood starts pouring right off the top of his ear.

“It’s pretty obvious right there, people.”

Here’s a look at the replay he mentioned (via imgur.com):

Check out the full conversation above as Rockhold discusses that fight, his Widman-Belfort prediction, immediate plans, health status and more.

And for complete coverage of UFC on FOX 15, check out the UFC Events section of the site.