Joe Rogan and Craig Jones speaks on Luke Rockhold training with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev (Image via: IMAGO, X, Instagram, Facebook)
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev wreaked havoc in the UFC’s lightweight division with similar but contrasting grappling prowess. Nurmagomedov and Makhachev train under Javier Mendez, who has also coached ex-champions like Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, and Luke Rockhold. In the recent Joe Rogan Experience, Craig Jones talked about the Rockhold’s grappling.
Rockhold was the least successful of all the champions from the American Kickboxing Academy. However, he has shown brilliance in his MMA, particularly during his time at Strikeforce. Jones and Joe Rogan, in the recent JRE episode, only had nice things to say about Rockhold, who they felt had an underrated grappling game. Jones had an idea why Rockhold was a good grappler.
Look, at the guys he’s training with: Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and Islam [Makhachev], Cain Velasquez, DC, like all those guys. It’s like people think it’s like MMA in isolation, like those skills won’t translate. They translate, especially with athletes like that.
Craig Jones via JRE
Rockhold retired from the UFC after losing to Paulo Costa at UFC 278. The fight had won the Fight of the Night bonus. He recently made his Karate Combat debut, knocking out Joe Schilling in the third round. Rockhold upcoming matchup is on Craig Jones’ invitational in the 80kg+ category.
Jones had recently revealed his retirement and began his career as a promoter. He criticized the low financial incentives offered by the ADCC, the premier BJJ competition. Jones had recently announced his invitational, offering a $1 million fight purse for the winner at the same time as ADCC 2024.
Ex-title challenger dismissive of Luke Rockhold’s grappling prowess
Craig Jones had recently suggested Luke Rockhold will surprise people on his invitational. Rockhold had one of the best ground games in the UFC, as evidenced by his fight with Chris Weidman, one of the best wrestlers in the UFC. After a spinning kick went wrong, Weidman ended up beneath Rockhold and lost via TKO.
Luke Rockhold (Image via: Instagram)However, Paulo Costa, the last man to fight Rockhold in the UFC, did not seem to agree with the assessment. Costa has one of the best anti-wrestling in the UFC and had shown it in the Rockhold fight. As such, Costa stated he didn’t find Rockhold’s grappling impressive on the JAXXON podcast.
Nonetheless, he admitted Rockhold had immense power, particularly in his kicks. Rockhold has one of the best question-mark kicks in the UFC. The move was Rockhold’s signature move in MMA, which he landed at will against any opposition.
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