UFC news: Luke Rockhold ready for Jon Jones fight, Conor McGregor return? Painful warning for Askren from Masvidal
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Rockhold wants Jones
Luke Rockhold returns to action for the first time in more than a year as he makes his debut at light heavyweight to take on Jan Blachowicz.
A former middleweight champion, Rockhold has not fought since February 2018 when he was knocked out in the third round by Yoel Romero at UFC 221.
Having struggled to continuously cut to 185 pounds in the past, the 34-year-old is expected to flourish at the higher weight.
“I feel good. I feel strong. I feel fast,” Rockhold told ahead of UFC 239.
“I have a harder time with smaller guys than bigger guys, I always have. But these guys are slow, they’re not as technical. I’ll pick them apart and dominate them.
Rockhold is plotting his own path to Jon Jones, considered the best in the world and fancies his chances should both overcome their respective opponents at UFC 239 - live on talkSPORT.
“Jon is talented. I’ve envisioned fighting Jon for a long time,” Rockhold said. “I’ve studied him. I know what he’s capable of. I know how I would fare. I’m well prepared. I’ve broken Jon down many times with [heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier] and without.
“He’s got a good mind for the sport and some good additives.”
Press conference teaser
UFC's media team posted a cryptic tweet on Wednesday, which read: 'You never know who could show up'.
This led many fans to speculate it could be former two-weight champion Conor McGregor, who has now served his six-month suspension.
McGregor lost on his last UFC outing, as Khabib Nurmagomedov produced a dominant display in Las Vegas, to submit the 'Notorious' in four rounds.
Since then, we have had retirement talk and 'Bottle Cap Challenges' but there is hope it will be McGregor who shows up to announce his future plans.
Words of advice
UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has offered some words of advice to Thiago Santos ahead of his fight with Jon Jones at UFC 239.
Cormier knows exactly how good Jones is having faced the reigning light heavyweight king twice.
“I think Santos needs to go in there and fight his fight,” Cormier said to .
“Don’t think about what he has to do different than everybody else, what he needs to do to be better. Just fight your fight. Don’t worry about all that other stuff.
“All that other stuff is just white noise. Worry about Thiago Santos and give yourself a chance. It’s a tall order for him. It’s gonna be a tough fight for him.”
Painful prediction
Jorge Masvidal has made it clear he is no fan of Ben Askren ahead of their fight 6 July.
When taking questions from the audience, Masvidal, who knocked out Darren Till in his last fight, said he does not like his opponent.
“We’re going to do it painfully and brutally,” Masvidal said at the open workout. “I don’t like this dude as everybody knows. It’s going to brutal. It’s going to be painful.”
He later added, “I want to punish him man. So, if it’s up to me, third round, man. I want to punish this dude. I want to punish his ass.”
Jon Jones vs Thiago Santos at UFC 239 is live on talkSPORT on 6 July