Teammate says Rockhold ‘has the skillset that will be a threat’ to Jones
According to ONE FC’s Aung La N Sang, Luke Rockhold poses a very real threat to Jon Jones.
There’s no doubt that Luke Rockhold is one of the best middleweights in the world, but would the former UFC 185-pound champion be able to give Jon Jones a run for his money?
Since losing to Yoel Romero last year, Rockhold announced his plans to move up to the light heavyweight division and, when he does eventually make the switch, Hard Knocks 365 teammate Aung La N Sang says reigning LHW champ Jones needs to be on guard.
Speaking to Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock in a recent interview, two-division ONE FC champion La N Sang said Rockhold has the skillset to pose a real threat to ‘Bones’ at 205-pounds.
“I do think he [Rockhold] has the skillset that will be a threat for Jon Jones,” he said. He’s got a high-level grappling game and he’s got a different dimension that a lot of 205-ers don’t have.”
La N Sang went on to say that Rockhold will be able to perform much better at light heavyweight due to the easy weight cut.
“205 is a better weight class for Luke. He is so much stronger at 205. He walks around naturally at 225 so he’s a big, big guy.”
“I’m a good-sized middleweight but I’m a smaller-sized light heavyweight. Luke was cutting a little too much weight. Fight week, it was hard for him to even train. I agree with his decision to go up to 205.”
No opponent has been booked for Rockhold, but teammate La N Sang will defend his middleweight strap against Ken Hasegawa later this month at ONE Championship: A New Era.
The event takes place on March 31 in Tokyo, Japan, and will feature the promotional debut of former UFC lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez, who takes on Timofey Nastyukhin in the quarter finals of the lightweight Grand Prix.