A victory over Lyoto Machida at UFC on FOX 15 is Luke Rockhold's golden ticket to a middleweight title shot, and he plans on cashing it in.
"The title shot is mine; I'm going to go take it," Rockhold told MMAjunkie.com's Mike Bohn. "That's what happens. I think I'm going to go out there and dominate my fight."
Rockhold's road to the title became a little less treacherous when Yoel Romero dropped out of his bout with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza this week. A stirring win over a high-level opponent like Machida puts Rockhold in line for a title shot, while a Souza victory over late replacement Chris Camozzi does nothing for his title aspirations, and an upset loss would be downright disastrous.
Should he topple "The Dragon," Rockhold's next obstacle would be waiting for 185-pound kingpin Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort to finally exchange fists in the Octagon, thus opening up the floodgates for potential new contenders.
The Weidman-Belfort matchup has been delayed multiple times, and, although they're set to square off at UFC 187 in May, Rockhold isn't convinced the fight is going to go off without a hitch.
"I could see Weidman winning the fight; I'm curious to see what Belfort comes out looking like, or if they even show up," Rockhold said. "It's lost a little bit of its steam (because of the delays). I'm hopeful it happens, but I'm skeptical. Both of them making it healthy to a fight? That’s a hard thing to come by these days. I’m hoping it comes to fruition this time.”
