Luke Rockhold News

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

Luke Rockhold still intends to go up to light heavyweight according to his Instagram story. No tiramisu on the table though with the other four desserts. pic.twitter.com/iZC3znvmyT — Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) February 22, 2018

Justin Golightly - February 20, 2018

It has been nearly 10 days since Yoel Romero finished Luke Rockhold with an uppercut so brutal that we’re still talking about it. We’re also still talking about the kiss he landed on Rockhold’s cheek as well at UFC 221. Originally it was thought that it was nothing more than a sportsmanlike gesture, but Romero had the bible on his mind as he called Rockhold a brother and put his lips on his cheek. He was thinking of Judas, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss after The Last Supper. The Soldier of God flipped the allegory in the Octagon that night when he pecked Luke Rockhold, then told the story of their fall on Monday. “Before USADA, every time when [Luke Rockhold] saw me […] he’d say, ‘Hey, what’s up, my man? You want to go out with me? I need a party.’ I’d say, okay, come on, let’s go, no problem. When I [was hanging out] with him, he was like a friend. […] When I had this problem with USADA, he and Michael Bisping is the two guys who were talking a lot of [trash] about me. Ok, Bisping is Bisping. I don’t have a relationship with this guy, but with [Rockhold] — You talk like this against me? But God is good. Maybe he was thinking, ‘Ok, this guy is 39-years old. Minimum two years out [with a suspension], he’s 41. Bye, bye Yoel.’ But God is good every time. I’m still here. That’s why the UFC call me and I say, ‘Yes, I want the fight’ and I tried to get down my current weight.”

Justin Golightly - February 15, 2018

After an awesome battle with Luke Rockhold and an even more incredible finish, the worry was that Yoel Romero had a broken leg coming out of the fight at UFC 221. However, the good news is that it is just a deep bruise that is expected to heal rather quickly, which puts Romero back to work on his road to gold. After already being punished for missing weight, he’s expected to face Robert Whittaker later this year. Romero has said he’d like the bout to take place in Miami, but manager Malki Kawa just said UFC 225 in Chicago may be a possibility. “[Yoel Romero] almost pulled out of the fight. The man re-hydrated, went to sleep the next morning, and still he wasn’t feeling the best. He even told me, ‘I’m not 100-percent.’ He could have fooled me. Nobody that I know wants to lose $100,000 over three pounds. The man wasn’t trying to do that. He tried, and he couldn’t do it. He paid the penalty.”

Tom Taylor - February 15, 2018

Over the weekend, the UFC debuted in Perth, Western Australia with UFC 221. In the main event of this card, a fearsome Yoel Romero took out former champion Luke Rockhold with a brutal barrage of third-round punches. Shortly after the referee waved off the fight, Romero cornered Rockhold for a brief post-fight embrace – and a quick peck on the cheek that was promptly immortalized as an MMA meme.

Tom Taylor - February 11, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC 221, former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold stepped into the cage with the dangerous Yoel Romero. If Rockhold had won this fight, he would have captured the UFC interim middleweight title and effectively guaranteed himself a fight with undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Unfortunately for Rockhold and his fans, Romero was the better man in the cage on fight night. After two close rounds, throughout which Rockhold landed some meaningful offense of his own, Romero landed the shots that mattered most in the third. First, he knocked the former champion on his butt with a left hand. Then, he finished him off with one of the nastiest kill shots we’ve seen in some time.

Chris Taylor - February 10, 2018

UFC 221 Results: Luke Rockhold vs Yoel Romero A middleweight tilt between Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero served as the main event of tonight’s UFC 221 pay-per-view event in Perth, Australia.

Justin Golightly - February 10, 2018

Here’s our interview with @LukeRockhold, and he’s clearly feeling some type of way about @YoelRomeroMMA missing weight… #UFC221 https://t.co/G5aQ44nScp — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 10, 2018

Justin Golightly - February 10, 2018

While most of us slept, all hell was breaking loose. Some of you may have been up to see that Yoel Romero initially missed weight, stepping to the scale at 188 pounds for his 185 pound interim title fight with Luke Rockhold. Since Australia didn’t perform the normal early morning weigh-ins, the evening ceremonial weigh-ins were the first time the fighters would be stepping on the scale. Romero would have two hours to be on weight or it would put the fight in jeopardy. His second and last attempt late last night wasn’t much better than the first. He weighed in at 187.7 pounds and chaos reigned. https://t.co/wBTcp3hOfI

Justin Golightly - February 9, 2018

As the middleweight division spins effortlessly back into chaos again, two men will try to set it back on its axis tomorrow. Luke Rockhold will fight Yoel Romero at the main event of UFC 221 for an interim middleweight title, created in response to newly-awarded undisputed champ Robert Whittaker’s triple threat health bomb. Romero and Rockhold have been on a collision course for years and now they finally get to scrap. He thinks he’s better everywhere and his coaches believe him too. It’s hard to say [who is the worse match-up for Luke Rockhold] because they both have different strengths. Yoel [Romero] is very explosive, great wrestling, but [Robert] Whittaker is good everywhere and a very dangerous striker. They’re both different, but the thing is with Luke, Luke’s good everywhere. So Luke can finish those guys in every department, where they can’t. They can’t finish Luke everywhere, they can’t finish Luke on the ground, they can’t do this with Luke. Luke can do that to anybody.”

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

The UFC’s middleweight division has been a mess that no one has been able to clean up, but Luke Rockhold think it may be its white knight. From Michael Bisping to Georges St-Pierre, then to Robert Whittaker, now an interim title created due to his laundry list of ailments, it’s hard to keep track of the gold belt. No matter what though, Rockhold maintains that if he takes out Romero this weekend in emphatic fashion, that he won’t be just an interim champ, but you can go ahead and call him the real deal. “Slight difference but this was bound to happen one way or the other. [Robert] Whittaker would have been first, Yoel [Romero] would’ve been second. Yoel’s first, so Whittaker will be second. I’m up for the task. I’m not lacking in any way. I’m prepared to fight the best guys in the world. It’s a shame it’s not gonna be for the undisputed title but Whittaker beat Yoel to be the interim champion. I’m gonna beat Yoel to be the interim champion. It’s a matter of who did it better is gonna be the real champion at the end of this thing. So that’s the way I see it.”

Drake Riggs - February 6, 2018

If you’re a fan of Bellator, then you know exactly who Jimmy Smith is. Many have called him “Bellator’s Joe Rogan”, but they can’t call him that anymore! Bellator’s longtime color commentator, Smith recently parted ways with the organization that he was the voice of. He now finds himself with yep…you guessed it, the UFC. At UFC 221 in Perth, Australia this Saturday, Smith will make his UFC commentary debut and in the main event is a big middleweight matchup between Yoel Romero and the former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold. The winner takes with them the interim title which inevitably leads to a meeting with the undisputed champion, Robert Whittaker.

Justin Golightly - February 2, 2018

Everyone knows by now that Daniel Cormier will be going up to challenge Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title, if you were one of the few who didn’t, we hope you were sitting down. The gigantic fight will culminate after the 27th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will feature undefeated prospects in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. Cormier and Miocic’s official teams have already been announced, but as any previous viewer of the show knows, there are always a few guest coaches. Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold may just be one of them. Spoke to @LukeRockhold, who leaves for Perth tomorrow. Told me Javier Mendez and Bob Cook will be in his corner at 221, and he expects he’ll appear on TUF at some point for DC. Still very much Team AKA, in addition to coaches Henri Hooft and Greg Jones.

Tom Taylor - January 31, 2018

Next weekend, in the main event of UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will battle Yoel Romero for the UFC interim middleweight title. Originally, Rockhold was expected to battle undisputed champion Robert Whittaker on the card, but he still stands to win UFC gold all the same. Long-time middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza doesn’t feel this is right. ”They are always complicating things for me,” Souza told MMAFighting of the title situation at middleweight. “[Luke] Rockhold just beat David Branch, who came from another promotion, and is fighting for the belt. The criteria is different with me, I always have to fight one more time. I honestly think that I have to fight one more, but why only me? Rockhold just beat Branch, man, and is fighting for an interim belt? Do you get what I’m saying?”

Justin Golightly - January 26, 2018

The middleweight division was just on the verge of reaching a relatively normal state of affairs and then an injury sent it right back into chaos. Georges St-Pierre bowed out of the division and left his new title behind. Whittaker was promoted to the undisputed champion but had to pull out of his first defense. Yoel Romero was immediately booked into Whittaker’s fight with Luke Rockhold and it was changed into an interim title bout. If you’re confused, don’t worry, Kelvin Gastelum is too. He thought he was a shoe-in for the shot after his performance at UFC Shanghai, but the UFC had other plans. “It does bother me a little bit that I haven’t even been considered for a shot, but it is what it is, I know this is a process, and I’m just dealing with the process. What I do think set me back was Robert Whittaker getting hurt and them making that match-up for the interim [middleweight] belt. That sets every middleweight back, because the winner is going to have to fight Whittaker. It’s just going to have to be a process for anyone to get a title shot.” — Kelvin Gastelum speaking to MMA Junkie.

Justin Golightly - January 16, 2018

The combat world wept when Robert Whittaker had to back out of his fight with Luke Rockhold, especially since it was going to set the middleweight division right for the first time in roughly two years. However, the tears quickly dried when we learned we were going to get Yoel Romero fighting Rockhold at UFC 221 instead. It’s a fight that we’ve somehow never got, but now here it is right in front of us. Luke Rockhold is fine with the change in opponent as well, which he believes is an easier fight than he was in before hand. “It’s not an ideal situation, of course. I’m going across the world to fight a guy that I could fight down the street. I wanted to fight [Robert] Whittaker. It’s a fight I’ve been seeking for a long time and I thought it was a good time to make it happen, but obviously he’s got some health issues. I wish him the best and I know Whittaker’s not a man to run away from anything. I respect that kid and I wish him the best. I hope it’s not too serious. Yoel [Romero] was the option right off the bat, and I’m ready to fight as long as the money’s right, the belt’s on the line.”

Justin Golightly - January 13, 2018

Damn…. @aliabdelaziz000 @ufc @mickmaynard2 @danawhite I wish Yoel and Lucas the best, speedy recovery champ. 😔 A post shared by David Branch (@davidbranch32) on Jan 13, 2018 at 4:33am PST

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

It was like magic. Georges St-Pierre left the middleweight division and a tidal wave of movement happened with no one having to fight each other. Luke Rockhold got a middleweight title shot — not an interim bout, but for the undisputed title — against Robert Whittaker and contenders all got bumped up a notch. Not everyone can be happy though, Kelvin Gastelum thought he deserved the shot after knocking out Michael Bisping and made sure everyone knew it. Rockhold shrugged his opinion off and promised if he kept it up, he can get smacked down in good time. “Given how ridiculous things are, I mean, yeah, of course there’s the [thoughts of] are they really gonna take that step [and give Kelvin Gastelum the fight], are they really gonna keep falling further within that realm? But everybody obviously, people came to me and made polls or whatever and I know I was at the top of every list. I know I’ve proven myself, I’ve accomplished things in this sport, whereas little midgets like Kelvin Gastelum haven’t. I’ve destroyed Chris Weidman, which he got destroyed by Weidman, so it’s like ehh. This kid hasn’t beaten really anybody and done anything in this sport, and for him to run his mouth, it’s pretty funny. It’s laughable. He’ll find out for real if he continues his efforts at 185. I’d slap that kid down real quick. Real quick.”

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2017

Shortly after winning the UFC middleweight title with an exciting, third-round submission of Michael Bisping, Georges St-Pierre vacated that title, citing ongoing health concerns that will likely keep him on the sidelines for the foreseeable future. Shortly after this development, the UFC elevated its interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to undisputed champion. Whittaker’s first defense as undisputed middleweight champion is now set, as he’s scheduled to take on former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221, which goes down this February 11 in Perth, Western Australia.