Vicente Luque has entered a new chapter in his fighting career – the middleweight run.
The longtime welterweight contender said goodbye to the weight class that made him a staple in the UFC, and is now trying his luck fighting 15 pounds heavier. Luque (24-12-1 MMA, 17-8 UFC) made his UFC middleweight debut at UFC 327 earlier this month, and it was a success. The Brazilian submitted fellow veteran Kelvin Gastelum in the first round of their contest.
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Although a great way to start his middleweight run, Luque did fight someone who fought a good chunk of his career at welterweight, and is considered to be on the smaller end of middleweights. Yet, Luque is confident size won’t be an issue moving forward, as he’s been tested by plenty of big middleweights in the gym.
“I think that I have enough skill and technique to deal with a lot of those problems,” Luque told MMA Junkie Radio. “Obviously, I don’t think that I’m going to be one of the strongest guys, and I train with so many middleweights. (Reinier de Ridder) is one of the guys that’s in the grappling. He’s really strong, really powerful. I’ve trained with him a lot. And definitely, he’s a guy that overwhelms me sometimes with power, but I still, with my skill, can work through positions and kind of compensate with that. I would say, it’s not something that I have trouble with. Another guy that I train with often, and he’s a really, really strong guy – I would call him the strongest middleweight that I’ve trained with and that I’ve seen – ‘Robocop’ (Gregory Rodrigues). He’s a guy that, wherever it is, be it grappling or striking, that guy hits so hard. It’s something that I have become used to.
“… It’s not something that I don’t see myself having problems with. Obviously, I don’t think I’m going to be the strongest guy, but I’m not trying to be that. I know that I’m fast, I have great timing, and I have a great set of skills, be it in striking or grappling, to give me the tools to win any fight and do whatever I need against any opponent. I’m confident with that.”
Luque had to cut weight for his return to middleweight. He also revealed he was way past the middleweight mark on fight night, signaling he’s grown up to par with some of the division.
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“I weighed about 200-201 on Saturday night,” Luque said. “I don’t have an idea of how heavy the guys get at middleweight, but definitely I felt really good. I felt really strong. Adding muscle definitely was something that I did add during the training camp, but was not something that I focused strictly on doing. Building muscle was not a focus point, let’s say, for my change. It was just being able to train harder. Obviously my strength and conditioning did change a little bit. We did emphasize a little bit on getting power, so building power, building strength, not necessarily putting on muscle, but obviously if I’m getting stronger.”
Still, despite getting the win, and gaining 15 pounds after weigh-ins, Luque still has some bulking up to do. He sees this move up in weightclass as a process, and he’s just in the beginning stages.
“I think that I have time to build my body into a middleweight,” Luque said. “I don’t want to rush into trying to be a big guy, much more muscle than I used to have before, and not be able to perform to carry that muscle, and especially to go three rounds or even five rounds down the line. With a lot of muscle built suddenly, it would be hard for me, to just naturally move.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Vicente Luque confident size won’t be an issue with middleweight move
