Luke Rockhold’s title win just the beginning of reaching his goals

As Luke Rockhold sets to make his first defense of his UFC middleweight title at UFC 199 on June 4 in Los Angeles, it’s clear that his title win was not the culmination of goals, but just the beginning.”Everything I’ve done in my life has always been competitive,” he told MMA Fighting. “I’ve always pushed myself. I’ve always wanted to take that leap of faith. I never wanted to live in my comfort zone. I always wanted to break every record I can. I’ve never been more passionate and more focused since I found this sport, or whatever you want to call it. It’s as real as it gets. I love it. I don’t understand anybody in any part of life if their goal is to be average. What’s the point of living? If you’re passionate about something, do it to be good. Do it to be great,. Do it to be special. Do it to be something more. You want to leave your mark. Nobody wants to be forgotten. I don’t understand any other way of living my life. I want to break every record and realize my potential and I don’t think I’m there. I’m entering my athletic prime. I have five or six years. I have so much technically and athletically I can get better in.”Rockhold (15-2) faces late replacement Michael Bisping (28-7) in his first defense of a title that was made famous and became the belt that’s history includes most of the key UFC records. That’s due to Anderson Silva, the consensus all-time greatest fighter in the division’s history, and arguably the sport’s history. So any talk of being the best in the history of the division carries a lot higher standard when talking middleweights.Perhaps Rockhold’s biggest test when it comes to Bisping, who he finished early in the second round on November 8, 2014, is not to focus on how one-sided that fight was. Between that, and Bisping taking the fight on short notice, it would be easy to take this win for granted.”With Luke, it doesn’t matter,” said his trainer, Javier Mendez, about any problems of overconfidence. “He’s got the motivation. He knows why he’s here. This is one individual who does everything he’s supposed to do. He eats, he sleeps, he trains property. He’s not a guy who blows it on things he shouldn’t be doing. If you want the formula to follow to be a true champion, Luke Rockhold is that example. Nutrition, sleep, rehabilitation,, training, technique, visualization, studying your opponent. He does everything. You don’t have to worry about him not doing his homework.”If homework was the issue, Rockhold had been working on a term paper one on subject, only to have to start from scratch with a new subject just before finishing.”I wasn’t surprised Weidman would fall out,” said Rockhold. “He’s always been a brittle character. Yeah, and with New York on the table, I thought he had a lot of things to pull him away from this fight.”Rockhold was quick to note he didn’t think Weidman pulled out over something minor.”What he had it looks like he couldn’t push through from what it sounds like” Rockhold said. “It’s an unfortunate situation. I wish him the best to heal up. I don’t want anyone to get injured on that level.””If you look at the division there were two obvious names (of replacements), Jacare (Souza) and Bisping,” Rockhold said. “Everyone else is a joke. At this point I haven’t seen anyone tear themselves from the pack. I think it was pretty obvious (who he was facing) when Jacare committed to having surgery. It was a pretty obvious choice, and Bisping …

continue reading in source www.mmafighting.com