If Tim Kennedy was trying to get inside Luke Rockhold's head by dressing up like Katy Perry and doing a parody of Black Swan on Masterpiece Theater, it worked.

That's because the Strikeforce middleweight champion, who will defend his title against Kennedy on Sat., July 14, 2012, in Portland, Oregon, says he absolutely cannot lose to him now (via MMAFighting.com):

"It was one thing fighting Tim Kennedy before but now that he's put out all these vidoes, I can't lose to Katy Perry. I can't lose to the Black Swan. I'll be disgraced forever. Trust me, it's a little more incentive to train my ass off even harder. Yeah, I can't lose to the guy."

Who knew intense bouts of boredom could be so good for strategy? Hey, when all else fails ... fresh tactics.

Rockhold also told the folks at MMA Fighting that he's not nearly as upset as he used to be about competing under the Strikeforce banner while other cats get fat with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Apparently the powers that be have buttered him up a bit by treating him like a big deal at events.

Feed the ego, please the star.

The had much more to say in his interview, including an update on his beef with Derek Brunson, and you can catch all that by clicking here.