Luke Rockhold News

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has been absent from the Octagon for over a year now following his 1st round KO loss at the hands of Michael Bisping at UFC 196, where he lost the UFC middleweight title. After recovering from an injury that forced him out of his UFC Melbourne scrap with Jacare Souza, Rockhold all signs pointed to the former champ fighting Gegard Mousasi in a pivotal middleweight fight, however Mousasi went on to sign with Bellator MMA.

Chris Taylor - July 1, 2017

Luke Rockhold plans on “making some noise” in his octagon return Luke Rockhold has not stepped foot inside the octagon since losing his UFC middleweight championship to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 twelve months ago in Los Angeles, California.

Tom Taylor - June 11, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has not been seen in the Octagon since he surrendered the title to Michael Bisping just over a year ago, and at the moment, he still doesn’t have a return fight booked. That said, the former champ is staying ready, in the event that either Robert Whittaker or Yoel Romero is forced out of their UFC 213 interim middleweight title fight. Apparently, the former champ will happily step in for either man. Rockhold explained the situation in a recent interview with TMZ.

bjpenndotcom - June 8, 2017

It has now been nearly an entire year since Luke Rockhold has been in the Octagon. After winning the UFC middleweight championship by defeating Chris Weidman at UFC 194 back in December of 2015, Rockhold was set to have a rematch with Weidman at UFC 199 in June of 2016. Unfortunately, Weidman sustained an injury during training camp and was unable to fight at UFC 199, leading the UFC to select Michael Bisping as a last minute fill-in opponent for Rockhold just two weeks before the fight. When the pair stepped into the Octagon for their highly anticipated rematch, it took just minutes for Bisping to knock Rockhold out cold and claim the UFC middleweight championship.

Tom Taylor - May 16, 2017

When it was announced earlier this year that the next shot at Michael Bisping’s middleweight title would go to former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre – a man riding a multi-year layoff with no experience in the division – there was widespread backlash. While much of this backlash came from the fans, the most visible responses to the news came from Bisping and St-Pierre’s fellow fighters. And of all the fighters to sound off against this strange title fight, it’s possible that none were as vocal as former champ Luke Rockhold. “Our division is hot right now, they’ve got good matchups, but they’re just not putting the champion to work,” Rockhold said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “It’s ridiculous. Are they really going to wait until October to make the Georges St-Pierre fight?” 

Chris Taylor - May 14, 2017

Dana White fires back at Luke Rockhold for his recent comments Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was not a happy man when the UFC announced that Georges St-Pierre would be receiving a middleweight title fight against Michael Bisping in his return to the octagon.

Russell Ess - May 12, 2017

The UFC middleweight contenders voices were heard as many were unhappy with the initial announcement that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was going to challenge Michael Bisping for his middleweight title. With St-Pierre recently stating that he would not be ready to fight until after October, UFC President Dana White announced that he canceled the matchup between Bisping and St-Pierre and that #1 ranked UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero would get the opportunity to fight Bisping for the title.

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?” 

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.

bjpenndotcom - April 27, 2017

Back in the Bay doing what we do. Waiting on an opponent for July or maybe June… A post shared by Luke Rockhold (@lukerockhold) on Apr 26, 2017 at 6:21pm PDT

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).

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 29, 2017

When reigning UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping agreed to defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, it left several far more deserving middleweight contenders out in the cold – none more so than Yoel Romero. The former Olympic wrestler Romero is currently undefeated in the UFC, having gone 8-0 in his first eight bouts with the promotion. Over the course of this impressive run, he’s defeated game opposition such as Derek Brunson, Tim Kennedy, Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, and most recently, Chris Weidman. At a glance, this would seem like more than enough to earn him a shot at gold. Unfortunately, St-Pierre’s title shot deprives him of this opportunity for the time being.

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

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.