THE UFC TONIGHT hosts interview Luke Rockhold and David Branch

BY MICHAEL GROCKE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Luke Rockhold (Photo credit Joe Camporeale © USA Today Sports)

UFC TONIGHT was hosted by Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier, with Karyn Bryant adding reports. The crew interviewed UFC middleweights Luke Rockhold and David Branch before their UFC FIGHT NIGHT headliner.

 

Luke Rockhold:

On David Branch: “When I’m patient, healthy and focused, there’s no one who can compete with me. I’m going to take my time, pick him apart limb by limb and finish him.”

On training in Florida: “I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. There’s some young and hungry talent there my size who I can feed off of.”

On being off 15 months: “I had a torn ACL. There’s a healing process. I’ve had to heal up. I’ve been trying to fight a since June. Anderson Silva wouldn’t fight me, Gegard Mousasi wouldn’t. Yoel wouldn’t fight a five round fight. I tried to fight Shogun at 205 and Fabricio Werdum. But here we go. I got a top-10 guy.”

On what he thinks about Branch saying Rockhold needs to cut out the alpha male act: “I don’t know. I thought he was the thug from Brooklyn. He thinks he can box, but he can’t box with me. He thinks he can grapple, but I’ll make him look like a white belt. He thinks he can wrestle. He has no idea what wrestling is.”

On what happened when he lost the belt: “In the Bisping fight, I wasn’t patient. I didn’t focus. I tried to do too much. When I’m patient, healthy and focused, there’s no one who can compete with me. I’m going to take my time, pick him apart limb by limb and finish him.”

On who he thinks will win between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre: “I’ve got no opinion on that fight. I think Bisping wins the fight. I think GSP is an inflated 155 pounder. He has no business being in the division. He’s small and weak and I think he’s going to get crushed. I think he needs to get the hell out.”

VIDEO: Luke Rockhold Interview

https://twitter.com/UFCONFOX/status/908132897713876992

 

David Branch:

On being in his first UFC main event: “It’ll be a little different. The stakes are higher. My last fight was a great acclimation fight. I wasn’t my normal composed fighter, but it was a great warmup.”

On if he needs to finish Rockhold: “I don’t need to finish to win, but the plan is to finish him.”

On if he planned on the long winning streak: “I take one fight at a time. I don’t put any unnecessary pressure on me. Every fight has a different set of things to deal with. I’m dealing with this one now.”

On if he’ll get a title shot with a victory: “If I win with a certain type of authority, that could put me in position. One of the three ways – by submission, knockout or TKO.”

VIDEO: David Branch Interview

https://twitter.com/UFCONFOX/status/908123980820652032


NOW CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE: DANIEL CORMIER ON FS1 UFC TONIGHT: Quotes and Video

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