Luke Rockhold claims Khamzat Chimaev turned him down in the UFC: “He didn’t want to play”

Former UFC champion Luke Rockhold claims he was offered to fight Khamzat Chimaev but the undefeated fighter turned him down.

Before Rockhold was booked to fight Paulo Costa in 2022, the former champ says he was offered Chimaev. However, he claimed ‘Borz’ turned him down and he isn’t sure why, but the UFC then pivoted to the Costa fight.

“Khamzat turned down a fight against me. When I was supposed to come back, my first fight back before Paulo Costa, they tried to book that fight and he didn’t want to play. I said yes,” Rockhold said to Submission Radio.

Why Khamzat Chimaev turned the fight down is uncertain. But, Rockhold ended up facing Costa who he lost to by decision. That was Rockhold’s last fight in MMA but he did go to BKFC and lost to Mike Perry. He also had a Karate Combat fight in 2024 against Joe Schilling which he won by TKO.

How the fight would have played out is uncertain but Luke Rockhold was confident he would have handed Khamzat Chimaev his first loss.

Luke Rockhold not ruling out a return the to UFC

Despite being signed to the GFL and being 40, Luke Rockhold isn’t ruling out a return to the UFC.

Rockhold says there are matchups he wants in the GFL first, but he does want some other fights in the UFC as well.

“I like all the matchups (in the UFC), so you never know. I’m still fighting. I still feel good. I’m still getting in the game. But first things first, we’ve got (Chris) Weidman, we’ve got Gegard (Mousasi), we’ve got some fun fights (in the GFL),” Rockhold said…

“There’s some fights I’m really interested in,” Rockhold added. “Obviously Mousasi is out there, I know he mentioned it. That’s a fight that I’ve always been interested in. So competitive fights, fun fights, big fights, it piques my interest.”

Rockhold is 16-6 as a pro in MMA and is on a three-fight losing streak.