{"id":451958,"date":"2022-07-01T15:46:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T22:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=451958"},"modified":"2022-07-01T15:46:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T22:46:50","slug":"luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: “I’m the only one who can beat Izzy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes he’s the only one who can defeat Israel Adesanya.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old is set to return in August against Paulo Costa. It’s been a long road<\/a> back to the octagon for the former UFC middleweight champion. Rockhold last competed against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in July 2019.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the last time that Luke Rockhold competed at 185-pounds was at UFC 221 in February 2018. In the four-plus years that the former champion competed, the middleweight division has been overtaken by Israel Adesanya.<\/p>\n

‘The Last Stylebender’ captured the undisputed UFC middleweight strap in 2019 and hasn’t looked back. Now, Adesanya is set to face Jared Cannonier this weekend at UFC 276.<\/a> However, that’s a matchup that Luke Rockhold believes the champion will win.<\/p>\n

Actually, there’s not any fighters that Luke Rockhold believes can defeat Israel Adesanya, besides himself. The 37-year-old discussed a possible fight between the two in an interview with MMAJunkie<\/em>. With the right tactics, Rockhold believes he can regain the middleweight title that he lost in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"Israel
Image via @ufc on Instagram (photographer not listed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think Izzy\u2019s a great champion, I think he\u2019s a good character, I like Izzy. I\u2019m not going to lie. I want to fight him, for sure. I think he wins this fight, I mean, Jared Cannonier throws hard. He could hit a leg in the wrong spot \u2013 you never know \u2013 or land something wild. But I think Izzy\u2019s range and his dynamicness is going to be too much. Jared can try to take him down, but he doesn\u2019t have enough solid top game to hold him.” (h\/t MMAJunkie<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Luke Rockhold continued, \u201cI think I\u2019m the only one that can beat Izzy. Employ the right tactics, and I\u2019ve got that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think about Luke Rockhold’s comments about Israel Adesanya? Do you agree? Sound off in the comment section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes he’s the only one who can defeat Israel Adesanya. The 37-year-old is set to return in August against Paulo Costa. It’s been a long road back to the octagon for the former UFC middleweight champion. Rockhold last competed against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in July 2019. Furthermore, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54493,"featured_media":448630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39449,10150,10086,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: "I'm the only one who can beat Izzy" | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: "I'm the only one who can beat Izzy" | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Luke-Rockhold.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Evanoff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoshEvanoff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Evanoff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Evanoff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/a26ac275c52a8263a0d86ec5c93fe4a9\"},\"headline\":\"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: “I’m the only one who can beat Izzy”\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\"},\"wordCount\":340,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Israel Adesanya\",\"Luke Rockhold\",\"MMA News\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\",\"name\":\"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: \\\"I'm the only one who can beat Izzy\\\" | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: “I’m the only one who can beat Izzy”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/a26ac275c52a8263a0d86ec5c93fe4a9\",\"name\":\"Josh Evanoff\",\"description\":\"21 year old with a passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Have written about MMA since 2017, works have appeared on Fox Sports, CagesidePress, Fansided, as well as BJPenn. One-half of the 'Courtside Soundoff' Podcast on Spotify, Podbean, YouTube, and iTunes. Can follow all works @JoshEvanoff on Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@JoshEvanoff\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/josh-evanoff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: \"I'm the only one who can beat Izzy\" | BJPenn.com","description":"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: \"I'm the only one who can beat Izzy\" | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Luke-Rockhold.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Josh Evanoff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JoshEvanoff","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Evanoff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/"},"author":{"name":"Josh Evanoff","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/a26ac275c52a8263a0d86ec5c93fe4a9"},"headline":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: “I’m the only one who can beat Izzy”","datePublished":"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/"},"wordCount":340,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Israel Adesanya","Luke Rockhold","MMA News","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/","name":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: \"I'm the only one who can beat Izzy\" | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-01T22:46:50+00:00","description":"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes that he could be the one to dethrone current titleholder Israel Adesanya.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold-gives-take-on-potential-israel-adesanya-fight-im-the-only-one-who-can-beat-izzy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Luke Rockhold gives take on potential Israel Adesanya fight: “I’m the only one who can beat Izzy”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/a26ac275c52a8263a0d86ec5c93fe4a9","name":"Josh Evanoff","description":"21 year old with a passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Have written about MMA since 2017, works have appeared on Fox Sports, CagesidePress, Fansided, as well as BJPenn. One-half of the 'Courtside Soundoff' Podcast on Spotify, Podbean, YouTube, and iTunes. Can follow all works @JoshEvanoff on Twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/@JoshEvanoff"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/josh-evanoff\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}