Luke Rockhold updates on potential move to light heavyweight: “I like it”

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has recently been linked to a rematch with Chris Weidman, who he defeated back in 2015. While negotiations for this middleweight bout are ongoing, Rockhold says he still plans to move to the 205-pound light heavyweight division in the near future.

The reason he hasn’t made the move yet, he says, is that his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier is still the UFC light heavyweight champion. Rockhold, who of course wants to capture light heavyweight gold for himself, says he might wait until Cormier retires to move up to this new weight class.

“Nothing’s official,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie. “I like it. I like the light heavyweight division – I think it’s for the taking – it’s just ‘DC’ and the complications with him. He’s tossing and turning and I just want the thing to really solidify himself and iron it out. I want a match-up. I want a sexy match-up. I want to get up there and do some damage and make it mean something. I don’t want to fight the best guy in the division in Alexander Gustafsson and then have to backtrack if DC doesn’t fight, have to fight someone else lower for a potential title shot. What’s the f**king point?”

Luke Rockhold has not fought since February, when he was knocked out by Yoel Romero in a bout that could have earned him the UFC interim middleweight title. This loss was preceded by a TKO win over former two-division WSOF champion David Branch in September of 2017, and a shocking knockout loss to Michael Bisping in June of 2016, which marked the end of his middleweight title reign.

Do you want to see Luke Rockhold move up to light heavyweight in the future? How do you think he would do in this new division?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/17/2018.