“Whenever I could, I would go out there and spar them — Brendan Allen, RDR (Reinier de Ridder), and now Nassourdine Imavov was here, so getting all these rounds with these top guys at the middleweight division gave me that extra approval that ‘I’m here; I already train with the best guys.’”

That translated into a standout effort against Gastelum, and now, having gotten things moving in the right direction and heading back to the East Coast where he still has family, Luque is ready to put forth another strong showing against Gore this weekend.

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“I do have family still in the New York, New Jersey area — my dad is there, my aunt, my uncle my grandfather, a lot of cousins,” said Luque, who was born in Westwood, New Jersey, living there until he was six years old. “Whenever I’m on the East Coast, it always feels like I’m fighting at home and to go out there and put on a show for the home crowd is always fun, always exciting… He’s a really exciting guy — he goes out there and he tries to knock guys out, finish guys however he can. Sometimes he gets hit, but he just keeps pushing forward; he doesn’t back down. He kind of reminds me of me in the beginning: good striking skills, heavy hands, but he can change it up, bring some submission skills into it; most of his wins are submissions.

“Overall, a well-rounded guy, a dangerous guy, and that excites me.”