Cool Hand Luke

As mixed martial arts, once maligned as “human cockfighting” by Arizona senator John McCain, has been accepted as a more mainstream sport, its most ferocious fighters have become household names. But it is Luke Rockhold who could become MMA’s best-known face.

Raised in a surfing community in Santa Cruz, California, the 33-year-old Rockhold speaks with the nonchalance of a West Coast beach bum, but his track record reveals an unrelenting determination to be at the top of his sport. After training in judo as a kid and in Brazilian jiujitsu after high school, he made his MMA debut in 2007, at the age of 23. He became. “I never thought I would ever be second best in anything.”