A storyline surrounding tonight’s UFC 220 co-main event between Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir has developed over the past two months involving former UFC champion Luke Rockhold.
Luke Rockhold is one of the American Kickboxing Academy’s home grown talents. He’s an equal in the camp to former champion Cain Velasquez and current champion Daniel Cormier in that respect.
The three top fighters out of the historic and world-renowned training center consider themselves more than teammates. They consider themselves family and brothers.
Which is why, in the lead up to UFC 220, Luke’s decision to take his training camp to South Florida, alongside D.C.’s opponent Volkan Oezdemir has had several people scratching their head.
The two parties have not shied away from this fact either. Training footage shows Luke training side-by-side with Volkan Oezdemir for the past several months, and what a valuable tool for the title challenger to have.
Cormier though, has always remained steadfast in Luke’s honor to not give away any secrets, and to stay neutral on their fight.
Rockhold has simply sought out the best training partners for his own upcoming title fight, and with AKA’s high injury rate, he was not getting that at home.
Well, here we are, on fight day, and Luke has finally proclaimed his loyalty ahead of tonight’s title fight.
Here’s what he said:
Fair play to Volkan but y’all know who my ninja is. #ufc220 #kungfupanda
UFC 220 features a UFC heavyweight world title fight in the night’s main event, between champion Stipe Miocic, and challenger Francis Ngannou. This fight alone is worth the price of admission, but the UFC has also booked a co-main event title fight in the form of Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir.
Here’s the complete UFC 220 line up.
Main Card: (PPV)
Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou
Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Shane Burgos vs. Calvin Kattar
Francimar Barroso vs. Gian Villante
Thomas Almeida vs. Rob Font
Televised Prelims: (Fox Sports 1)
Kyle Bochniak vs. Brandon Davis
Sabah Homasi vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
Dustin Ortiz vs. Alexandre Pantoja
Dan Ige vs. Julio Arce
Online Prelims: (UFC Fight Pass)
Enrique Barzola vs. Matt Bessette
Islam Makhachev vs. Gleison Tibau
