Know Your Fighter (And Shut Your Mouth): Luke Rockhold

Welcome to a new series here on Gals Guide! What I'll be giving you folks is a video or story on a fighter that isn't well-known and will give you a new little tidbit of information about a fighter on an upcoming event. This week's event is Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine and I will be dropping a grappling gem on you involving Luke Rockhold.

To give you a little bit of background, Luke started training Judo at the age of six, but quit when he was ten. In middle school, he took up wrestling all the way through high school. While still in high school, Rockhold was introduced to jiu-jitsu by his sister. He decided that the sport was better tailored to his body than wrestling and stuck with it, winning the U.S. Open as a blue belt in 2006 and to take second in the Pan-American Games. Add a few street fights and a natural striking base honed by a few years at AKA, and you have the Strikeforce Middleweight Champion!

Unfortunately for Luke and most others, it is hard to excel in both MMA and high-level grappling and/or kickboxing. You see guys like Alistair Overeem and Roger Gracie break the mold, but only a handful of guys are able to reach the pinnacle of two sports. In this video, Luke takes on Rustam Chsiev. Chsiev has a 1-0 MMA record, but he focuses mainly on grappling. With a sambo background and near-perfect takedown defense, Chsiev has been a rising star in the galaxy of submission grappling, defeating Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu and Lyman Good while capturing some eyes in various tournaments. Here, Rustam and Luke battle it out in the first round of the 32-man, "2010 World's Best Grappler Tournament" held by Grappler's Quest.

Granted, Rockhold lost. But he showed some great scrambling ability and ability to get off his back. One of the highlights of the match is Chsiev's fireman's carry that Rockhold attempted to convert into a crucifix. Rockhold gave an impressive outing, considering Chsiev would go on to the semi-finals and take home third place in the tournament.

Will this great ability to scramble against a world-class sambo and wrestling expert be able to keep Rockhold off the ground against Gaidojutsu (Greg Jackson's brand of grappling) black belt Keith Jardine? Or will Rockhold use his six submission victories to his advantage and tap him?

Videos and Info via: Grappler's Quest, Sherdog