Rockhold responds to Weidman: 'I train with elite level fighters and he doesn't'

Luke Rockhold is rarely at a loss for words, so it shouldn't come as a shock that he had a quick response to UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman's statements about him on The MMA Hour this week. Weidman, who meets Rockhold in the co-main event of UFC 193 in December, stated that Rockhold was 'a little bit insecure' and that he was going to run through the challenger. In a conversation with MMA Fighting, Rockhold (obviously) disputed that:

It sounds like [Weidman]’s asleep in bed. I just don’t know what the hell’s going on in his head. I don’t know if he’s psychologically convinced himself that we’re scared of him or something, but he’s not on the right page. I feel like he’s in for a rude awakening.

"I know one thing…I’m going to start bringing Monster Energy drinks to our press conference and all our media engagements, just to give him something extra to promote this fight. His interviews are like watching paint dry."

He does agree with Weidman about their friendly rivalry over the years probably stemming from the fact that they knew they'd meet in the cage someday. But he believes that his camp, American Kickboxing Academy, gives him a major advantage over the champion. While explaining the fighters they have in common, he managed to take a shot at...well, pretty much everybody.

"I think we always knew there’d be a fight one day, so it’s been a weird situation to be in."

"I feel the same way that he feels," Rockhold said. "The only difference is I train with elite level fighters and he doesn’t. I know what I’m capable of. He’s been in there and he’s fought some tough guys, I’ll give him that. He fought the old lion with his balls cut off (Vitor Belfort). I fought a different fighter. He wants to keep comparing our two fights, it’s a joke. I got caught, and that doesn’t tell the tale of a fight. I got caught by a juiced-out animal. Him? He fought an old lion with his balls cut off.

"We fought (Lyoto) Machida in the relative same time. You saw how I dealt with Machida and how he struggled with him in five-round fight, and almost got beat multiple times. I don’t believe there was one moment where I struggled with Machida. If there’s a difference on the ground, if he thinks his grappling’s superior, look at that fight. He couldn’t hold Machida down and I completely dominated him on the ground. Stand-up realm, he’s tough on the feet -- but he’s slow. He’s slow, he’s clumsy…he kicks like Michael Bisping, really the most awkward, funky kicks."

He also criticized the champ's fight IQ:

"I think there’s a relaxation that I have over Weidman that he hasn’t realized yet. He’s so tough, he gets by on a lot of toughness, but I don’t think he uses his head too well. It seems like he’s a little cloudy in his vision in a fight. He doesn’t fight with the highest IQ. You can see when he comes in, he comes in kind of carelessly, kind of going through the motions. He doesn’t adjust well. It seems like he’s almost seeing red at times. I was there at one point in my career. I learned how to adjust and see my opponent and what he brings, and counter."

I'm sure this isn't the end of the banter between the two men, considering they don't even fight for another four months.