Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold found inspiration in Israel Adesanya‘s UFC 287 knockout win over Alex Pereira.
Adesanya knocked Pereira out in the second round of the UFC 287 main event earlier this month to recapture the 185-pound championship. Heading into the fight, Adesanya was stopped by Pereira at UFC 281 and defeated by ‘Poatan’ twice in kickboxing.
“It was picture f**king perfect. Good for him,” Rockhold said about Adesanya’s win.
“Look what Izzy did. Everyone counting him out, everyone doing that, and he stepped forward and did his thing,” Rockhold told Submission Radio.
“Anybody who’s a f**king real motherf**ker who’s gonna step forward and want to prove people wrong and use that as a driving force. Other people just sit back behind their channels and talk shit and make excuses and chitter chatter and hate on people, and I’m just f**king sick of it. And I love spitting in those motherfuckers’ faces. Hock big loogies in all your haters’ faces,” continued Rockhold.
“Izzy ‘s been, you know, I’m sure I inspired Izzy as he was younger, and he’s inspired me. You drive inspiration through everybody. He was a f**king gangster. He was super gangster.”
Rockhold retired from mixed martial arts after his UFC 278 loss to Paulo Costa. In January, he announced that he had negotiated a release from his UFC contract. In March, Rockhold inked a deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He’s set to his debut against Mike Perry at BKFC 41 on April 29.
Luke Rockhold was inspired by Israel Adesanya’s UFC 287 knockout
