Outside Source
Makhachev and Luke Rockhold are training partners at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Rockhold recently recalled using Makhachev in his training camp when he fought Lyoto Machida in 2015. Makhachev had just made his UFC debut and was primarily known as a friend of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Rockhold revealed that while he was a middleweight, Makhachev, who competed at 155 pounds, once threw him in sparring. While Rockhold got back up, he was admittedly caught by surprise by Makhachev’s toughness.
He’s Tough Everywhere
“I think I used [Islam] for my Machida camp back in the day… I could spar with him a little bit,” Rockhold said on the Jaxxon Podcast. “He would come in in my fourth to fifth round. I remember he threw me one time, I was like, ‘What the f—k.’ I was a middleweight. But I got back up and got it back. He definitely surprised me, he’s very tough everywhere.”
Rockhold (16-6) submitted Machida in the second round and won the middleweight title by dethroning Chris Weidman in his next outing. However, Rockhold failed to defend his title against Michael Bisping, who had stepped in on short notice for Weidman. Rockhold took a hiatus after going 1-2 in his next three. Rockhold returned to action after three years in 2022, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Paulo Costa, following which he parted ways with the UFC.
Meanwhile, Makhachev (28-1) moved up to welterweight after defending his lightweight title four times. Makhachev is now scheduled to challenge Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title at UFC 322 next weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Luke Rockhold remembers getting thrown by Islam Makhachev during sparring 😂🦅
“I used Islam for my Machida camp. I could spar with him in my fourth to fifth round. I remember he threw me one time, I was like, what the f**k. I was a middleweight. He definitely surprised me, he’s… pic.twitter.com/nK0tmiVoE1
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) November 9, 2025
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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