Luke Rockhold Opts To Continue MMA Career
It looks like Luke Rockhold will not be retiring after all. Rockhold communicated to ESPN on Sunday that he’s looking to resume his in-cage efforts. The former Strikeforce 185-lb titlist and former UFC middleweight champion never officially claimed he would be hanging up the gloves. But he said it was “very possible” he’d never fight again as recently as October. The plan is for Rockhold to return to 185 lbs after a foray to 205 lbs in his last outing. Luke Rockhold is looking to get in a prizefight before the calendar year closes out.
Luke Rockhold
The AKA product has had a number of lingering injuries over the years that he seems to have largely rehabbed. These ailments have included things like a persistent shin injury that required a skin graft, a broken jaw in his last fight which required surgery/ a titanium plate, and surgically repairing his shoulder earlier this year. Though he still has about a month of rehab for that aforementioned shoulder surgery, Rockhold seems refreshed enough to want to resume competing.
The 35-year old last got out there into the octagon at UFC 239. It was Rockhold’s light heavyweight debut and Jan Blachowicz stopped him with strikes in the second round.
The last few years have been tumultuous for Luke Rockhold. Since he captured the UFC middleweight belt from Chris Weidman at UFC 194, things would go awry. Many touted Luke Rockhold as the future of the 185 lb class but he would subsequently lose his crown in his first title defense against arch-rival Michael Bisping at UFC 199. From there, Rockhold would defeat David Branch then lose to Yoel Romero before that aforementioned Blachowicz loss happened.
In his discussion over the weekend with ESPN, Rockhold mentioned a rematch with Chris Weidman who returned to the win column over Omari Akhmedov this past weekend. Who do you want to see Luke Rockhold face in his UFC return?
