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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Luke Rockhold has been ready for his fight with Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8 since the bout was announced, but the continued back and forth between the two surrounding Belfort's TRT use has increased Rockhold's anticipation. On top of that, Rockhold's taking even more motivation out of their staredown on Thursday at the pre-fight press conference for Saturday's event.
Belfort put his fist up to Rockhold's face as they squared off, and Rockhold said after the proceedings that it's got him even more fired up.
"Just squaring off with him and seeing eye to eye, it just really fires me up, I'm not going to lie," Rockhold said in an interview with MMAJunkie.com. "Him squaring up, you want to put your hand on my chin? Alright. Let's go.
"I'm ready. This is a fight. It's on... Standing there and squaring off with Vitor, he just lit a fire under my ass. "I'm seeing red right now, and I'm in kill mode. I'm just ready to get in there and fight. That's all I'm thinking about right now."
The TRT conversation has Rockhold thinking he's fighting for more than just himself, as a win over Belfort would mean a win for clean fighters, and it's that combination of things that has him on a different wavelength into Saturday's fight.
"It bothers me to take that route when you have a history of steroids and you've been caught in the past," Rockhold said. "Obviously you're looking for a way to supplement again and get on it. I'm a fan of a clean sport, and I'm here to clean up the sport."
"I'm in a different mode, a different mindset. I've lost my respect for Vitor and what he's done, and I'm just focused on fighting. He's an opponent. He's in front of me, and obviously little things have fueled me. I'm just in fight mode."
Penick's Analysis: Rockhold's finding motivation in a lot of different areas, which is important for him in being ready for this debut fight. He's got a very tough fight ahead of him with Belfort, and he needs to use everything he's got in order to defeat him in Brazil. Taking motivation out of the staredown and out of the TRT conversation could play out well for him, and he's trying to make a very big and very clear point about who he is and what he's bringing to the UFC. Tensions are high, and that should make for a really good fight on Saturday.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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