Rockhold tipped the scales at 186 pounds for his high-stakes showdown with Belfort (186) in the UFC on FX 8 main event on Saturday at the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. Middleweight co-headliners Ronaldo Souza (186) and Chris Camozzi (186) also met their mandated weight requirements without issue at Friday’s official weigh-in.
Sherdog Fantasy MMA: UFC on FX 8 Free Fan Pick’EmSpawned by the American Kickboxing Academy camp, Rockhold has won his past nine bouts, seven of them first-round finishes. The 28-year-old Santa Cruz, Calif., native last fought under the Strikeforce banner in July, when he captured a unanimous decision over Tim Kennedy at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore. Victories over the aforementioned Souza, UFC veteran Keith Jardine and current Cage Warriors Fighting Championship middleweight titleholder Jesse Taylor buoy the once-beaten Rockhold’s resume.
UFC on FX 8 -- which airs live on the FX network at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT -- will also feature a lightweight duel pitting Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts representative Evan Dunham (156) against Rafael dos Anjos (156) and a middleweight scrap pairing Rafael Natal (186) with Nitrix Fight Team’s Joao Zeferino (185). Three hours prior, Fuel TV will carry six preliminary bouts: Nik Lentz (146) vs. Hacran Dias (146), Francisco Trinaldo (154) vs. Mike Rio (156), Gleison Tibau (156) vs. John Cholish (156), Paulo Thiago (170) vs. Michel Richard dos Prazeres (171), Iuri Alcantara (136) vs. Iliarde Santos (134) and Fabio Maldonado (205) vs. Roger Hollett (204).
The three remaining undercard matchups will stream to the UFC’s Facebook page at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT, as John Lineker (126) locks horns with Azamat Gashimov (126), Jussier da Silva (126) meets Chris Cariaso (126) and Lucas Martins (153) collides with Jeremy Larsen (155).
* Cholish made weight on his second attempt after initially tipping the scales at 156.2.
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