UFC Fight Night 116 weigh-in results from Pittsburgh - Luke Rockhold vs. David Branch

Luke Rockhold not retired; considering fighting again

If you thought Luke Rockhold was retired, then think again.

Today, the former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion hinted that he may fight again.

“That’s why I just kept my mouth shut,” Rockhold said to MMA UK when asked about retiring and then making a comeback.

“People just do it to seek attention. I’m not trying to like make some big statement, make attention about it when I’m not sure about it. Here we are now. I’m getting healthier and I might be getting an itch. We’ll see.”

Rockhold recently underwent shoulder surgery to repair a labrum tear and a rotator cuff. Prior to the surgery, he also broke his jaw in his last fight in July 2019, in which he was knocked out out by Jan Blachowicz in a light heavyweight bout.

Following the loss at 205 pounds, Rockhold will drop back down to middleweight if he does fight again and he has a few names in mind.

“If Anderson [Silva] is still interested and seemingly he is, maybe, you never know. [Chris] Weidman’s got a fight coming up. If something, he comes out of that well, you never know. There’s options.”

If Rockhold is going to return to the octagon, it won’t happen in the short future as right now his health is his number one concern.

“I’ve just got to get healthy. It’s getting healthy and getting everything right and just taking some time off. I’ve been pushing it so hard for 15 years in this sport. It’s nice to have a break, mentally it’s freeing. Get focused on some other things I can do and there’s a lot to maintain and keep up with.”

Luke Rockhold still has a number of fights left on his contract if he does decide he still wants to compete.

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John Eric Poli