Luke Rockhold News

Tom Taylor - May 11, 2017

On the latest edition of The MMA Hour, a disgruntled Luke Rockhold went off on the UFC for the way it’s been handling matchmaking in the middleweight division. His main gripe, of course, stemmed from the fact that the next shot at Michael Bisping’s middleweight title was expected to go to former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre – a man who is returning from a multi-year hiatus, and one who has competed at middleweight before. To make matters worse, this fight wasn’t expected to occur until the fall. “Our division is hot right now, they’ve got good matchups, but they’re just not putting the champion to work,” Rockhold said. “It’s ridiculous. Are they really going to wait until October to make the Georges St-Pierre fight?” 

bjpenndotcom - May 9, 2017

Earlier this year, the UFC brass announced that former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre would be making his highly anticipated return to the Octagon to fight UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping in a highly anticipated showdown for the middleweight title sometime 2017. While no date was announced for the bout, UFC President Dana White confirmed that the fight would take place sometime in 2017.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2017

It has been known for some time that UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will next defend his title against former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. With St-Pierre now saying he won’t be able to take this lucrative title fight until October or later, however, the many contenders in the stacked middleweight division are getting quite frustrated – perhaps none more so than former champ Luke Rockhold. Rockhold vented on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour:

Russell Ess - May 3, 2017

It has been nearly a year since former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold last fought in the Octagon. Rockhold was upset by current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, losing the UFC middleweight title after getting knocked out by “The Count” in the first round of their UFC 199 championship fight.

Tom Taylor - April 20, 2017

When 26-year-old Kiwi Robert Whittaker took out long-time middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza on the main card of the UFC’s recent trip to Kansas City, he caught the attention of every other middleweight on the UFC. No middleweights, however, seem to be quite as interested in the young New Zealander as former champ Luke Rockhold, who has been vocal in his desire to fight him this summer. Rockhold re-upped on his desire for a fight with the man affectionately called “Bobby Knuckles” on the latest episode of Submission Radio (via MMAFighting.com).

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2017

Last night, on the main card of UFC on Fox 24, Australia-based Kiwi Robert Whittaker stepped onto the canvas with former Strikeforce middleweight king Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. The bout marked the biggest test of the 26 year old Whittaker’s career. Despite the scale of this test, Whittaker passed it with flying colors. First, he reversed an early Jacare takedown, and escaped back to his feet – something very few middleweights have been able to do against the dangerous BJJ whiz. From there, Whittaker began to pick his foe apart on the feet, dropping him once with a punch, and ultimately polishing him off with a head-kick and a storm of followup ground strikes.

bjpenndotcom - April 11, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has been absent from the Octagon since his June 2016 loss to Michael Bisping which saw the champion lose his title belt in the very first round. The loss to Bisping not only saw him lose the middleweight title, but also snapped a 5-fight win streak that spanned back to just Rockhold’s second UFC fight, and saw him finish five straight opponents, including Chris Weidman to win the UFC title. Now, with fellow former middleweight champion Anderson Silva without an opponent for his upcoming UFC 212 scrap after Kelvin Gastelum was pulled from the scrap due to a USADA violation for marijuana, Rockhold has informed Padlokt that he plans to step in to fight Anderson Silva.

Tom Taylor - April 10, 2017

The middleweight title picture is currently a bit chaotic, as reigning champ Michael Bisping is poised to defend his title against Georges St-Pierre, a former welterweight champion who has never fought at middleweight before. Unsurprisingly, this news has not gone over well with the many more deserving contenders at middleweight, such as former champ Luke Rockhold. In a recent interview with TSN (via BloodyElbow.com), Rockhold explained that he believes this controversial middleweight title fight has created a need for an interim title fight to keep the contendership conversation moving properly.

Tom Taylor - March 28, 2017

At a to-be-determined date later this year, former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will return from a long hiatus to challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title. Given that St-Pierre has never fought at middleweight before, his being given this opportunity over deserving middleweight contenders like Yoel Romero and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has generated ample criticism. The latest of this criticism comes from former champion Luke Rockhold. On UFC Tonight Rockhold suggested that, while a champion should be able to pick their challengers out of a small pool of top-5 foes, picking a challenger who’s never fought in the division before is a bit excessive. His words via MMAWeekly.com.

Tom Taylor - March 26, 2017

Later this year, at a to-be-determined date, UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping will attempt to defend his title against former welterweight king Georges St-Pierre, who is returning from a long hiatus from competition. While this fight has got some members of the MMA community very excited, it’s generated criticism from others for the way it deprives the top middleweight contenders of the title shots they deserve. During a recent appearance on UFC Tonight, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold offered his own criticism of this booking, suggesting that it could set a dangerous precedent, as legitimate ranking-driven matchmaking gives way to a focus on so-called “money fights”.

Tom Taylor - March 26, 2017

Shortly after his thunderous, first-round knockout of Andrei Arlovski, rising heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou issued callouts of three of the division’s top fighters: Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, and Alistair Overeem. Yet when Ben Rothwell was forced out of a scheduled bout with Brazil’s Fabricio Werdum, leaving Werdum without an opponent, the Brazilian became Ngannou’s primary target. Ngannou has some competition in his quest for a fight with Werdum. That competition comes from an unlikely source in former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who has beef with Werdum stemming from their days fighting under the Strikeforce banner.

bjpenndotcom - March 23, 2017

The war of words between former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, and former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has picked up steam this week after Rockhold called out Werdum for a heavyweight scrap on UFC Tonight, saying: “Everyone’s steaming over this new fight I brought up. I think me and Werdum got some old beef from Strikeforce. He’s a guy I’ve always wanted to fight. I’ve thought it through and I like the style matchup.

Chris Taylor - March 22, 2017

Luke Rockhold wants to fight a former UFC heavyweight champion in his octagon return! Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is on a mission to score a fight with former UFC heavyweight title holder Fabricio Werdum.

bjpenndotcom - March 10, 2017

This past weekend, undefeated UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov was set to step into the Octagon with streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson for a highly anticipated showdown that would see one man crowned the interim lightweight champion, and earn one man the chance to fight Conor McGregor when he chooses to return following the birth of his child in May. Unfortunately, since Nurmagomedov’s withdrawal, reports have surfaced that Nurmagomedov’s father is currently considering pushing his son to retire. While there has been no word from Nurmagomedov himself regarding the situation, Nurmagomedov’s AKA teammate Luke Rockhold spoke to Submission Radio to give a very different take on the situation, also shedding light on why Nurmagomedov was forced out of the fight, saying:

Russell Ess - March 10, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is taking his time getting back into the Octagon, especially with the way the middleweight division is currently playing out.

bjpenndotcom - March 10, 2017

This year, it was announced that former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre would be returning to the Octagon on a new multi-fight contract with the UFC which will see him return to the Octagon against middleweight champion Michael Bisping later this year. With Georges St-Pierre now set to return to the Octagon, many are wondering what a potential GSP victory over Michael Bisping means for the former welterweight champion.

Tom Taylor - February 26, 2017

Back in June of 2016, a widely unheralded Michael Bisping shocked the world by clubbing Luke Rockhold to a first-round knockout, capturing the UFC middleweight title as a result. Since this win, Bisping has defended the middleweight title with a hard-fought decision win over the retiring Dan Henderson. Rockhold, meanwhile, has not been seen in the Octagon since. It is worth noting, of course, that Rockhold was briefly scheduled for a November rematch with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, but was unfortunately forced out of this fight with an injury. Despite the legitimate reason for Rockhold’s lengthy absence from the cage, however, Bisping doesn’t believe he’ll ever return.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2017

In June of 2016, an overconfident Luke Rockhold was knocked out by Michael Bisping in one of the year’s biggest upsets. This massive upset loss marked the end of what looked like it could have been a pretty dominant reign as UFC middleweight champ. Later that year, Rockhold was given the opportunity to bounce back from this ugly loss when he was scheduled for a rematch with top middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who he bested back in 2011. Regrettably, Rockhold sustained a leg injury in training, and was forced out of this fight. He has not been seen in action since.