Luke Rockhold News

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

After a log jam that brought the middleweight division to a screeching halt, there is about to be a tidal wave of movement like someone blew up a dam. Georges St-Pierre left the middleweight division and now Luke Rockhold’s fight with Robert Whittaker at UFC 221 will be for the actual middleweight title. The opening odds have been released for this main event title shot and Whittaker is a slight favorite over the former Strikeforce and UFC champ. Robert Whittaker will open a slight -125 betting favorite over Luke Rockhold (-105) at UFC 221, according to https://t.co/qZp1ejgvMo.

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

Well, the speculation has ended, Georges St-Pierre’s Middleweight title reign has come to an end before it could even really begin. After it was announced that Robert Whittaker would fight Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, it was assumed that Whittaker would be defending a title… It was just unclear whether or not it would be his Interim title or if St-Pierre would be vacating his Middleweight title making Whittaker the new undisputed champion. The latter has been announced as the case. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/938951789835177984

Drake Riggs - December 7, 2017

There were rumblings and rumors floating around about this fight potentially coming to fruition. Especially after current UFC Middleweight champion, Georges St-Pierre’s recent news regarding whether or not he’ll come back to the division where he said, “I don’t think so”.  GSP is battling ulcerative colitis anyway so prior to his recent interview it was expected that the Interim champion, Robert Whittaker would indeed defend his title before challenging for GSP’s anyway. But now everything is set. Ariel Helwani broke the news that former UFC and Strikeforce Middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold would be the next man to challenge for a UFC Middleweight title.

Justin Golightly - December 6, 2017

The news is still as fresh as the Christmas trees your neighbors are probably already putting up: Luke Rockhold is slated to fight interim UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 221 in Perth, Australia. That is sure to make Rockhold happy after his divisional criticisms, but it definitely isn’t the news Kelvin Gastelum wanted. He just knocked out the former champion Michael Bisping, which he felt granted him at least a shot at the interim belt holder if Georges St-Pierre isn’t sure of his next move. He took to Twitter to express this as soon as the news was dropped. 👎👎👎👎👎 fart noise * https://t.co/KwomUMoO6m

Adam Conklin - November 24, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold has been outspoken regarding his discontent for the middleweight title picture. Being an active part of that picture since his debut in the UFC back in 2013. Rockhold was coming off of an electric run in Strikeforce with nine wins, three of which were for the title. Rockhold’s debut in the UFC was a memorable loss to Vitor Belfort but four straight finishes including two and three performance bonuses later and Rockhold challenged for, and won, the UFC middleweight title.

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre captured the UFC middleweight title with a third-round submission over Michael Bisping. Though St-Pierre previously stated that he’s contractually obligated to fight interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next, former champion Luke Rockhold doesn’t buy that. In his opinion, St-Pierre is likely to hold up the middleweight division for some time before heading back down to welterweight where his heyday took place. “Unfortunately it sounds like we have a hold up and it’s gonna take some time to iron out what’s next,” Rockhold said on a recent episode of Submission Radio (h/t MMAFighting.com). “I know [St-Pierre] is contractually obligated to defend his belt, but as we all heard on the mic [at UFC 217], he’s backtracking and he’s trying to find his way out, seemingly…”

Tom Taylor - September 26, 2017

On November 4, in the main event of the absurdly stacked UFC 217, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The expectation is that the winner of this fight will then battle interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to unify the titles. In the opinion of Luke Rockhold, however, that’s just not going to happen. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Rockhold shared his worry that, no matter the outcome of UFC 217’s main event, the winner won’t fight Whittaker – or any other top middleweight contenders for that matter.

Tom Taylor - September 25, 2017

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made a triumphant return to the cage, emerging from a hiatus of more than a year to clobber former World Series of Fighting champ David Branch to a second-round stoppage. With this win, Rockhold reiterated his status as one of the world’s premier middleweights. That said, he generated quite a bit of excitement post-fight by suggesting that his future might just be in the light heavyweight division. The main thing that is currently stopping him from moving up, he explained, is that his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier currently sits atop the division.

Russell Ess - September 18, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is coming off an impressive victory that place over the weekend. Rockhold was featured in the main event of UFC Fight Night 116 against former WSOF middleweight and light heavyweight champion David Branch. Rockhold earned a second-round TKO with Branch submitting to powerful strikes. Rockhold held a dominant position taking Branch’s back and flattened him out and unloaded with a barrage of punches.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2017

Current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will look to defend his title for a second time when he squares off with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 217 on November 4 in New York. The fight (GSP vs. Bisping) has been highly criticized by fellow middleweight fighters who believe that the French Canadian should not have received an immediate title shot in a division where he has no prior wins.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returned to the octagon in the headliner of last night’s UFC Fight Night 116 event in Pittsburgh where he scored a second-round stoppage victory over David Branch. Following the big win, Luke Rockhold called out former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre requesting that the French Canadian superstar withdraw from his upcoming title fight with Michael Bisping at UFC 217.

Chris Taylor - September 17, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold returned to the win column in the main event of last night’s UFC Fight Night 116 event in Pittsburgh by scoring a second-round stoppage victory over David Branch. Branch had an excellent opening round against Rockhold, but Luke turned the tide in round two where he would eventually force the former World Series of Fighting champion to tap-out due to strikes.

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

The UFC’s middleweight division has been in a weird, chaotic state ever since Luke Rockhold was knocked out by the hands of Michael Bisping. Some fighters like Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza went on strike, Yoel Romero vowed to not go back his home in Cuba until he got a title shot, and Gegard Mousasi left the UFC altogether. Luke Rockhold has expressed his frustrations in the past about how things were going, which is why he wants to keep the wheels of the division going. No matter who wins at UFC 217 between Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, the champ is supposed to fight Robert Whittaker. If that doesn’t happen, then Rockhold will. “Robert Whittaker has proved himself top dog and I believe he and I are the two best guys in the middleweight division. So, [the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre] should definitely fight him. But if not, I will. I’ll fight any man at the top and Whittaker is seemingly that guy. I was impressed. First time up in the division, it was a strong, composed showing. I’ve been watching him come along since and he’s growing nicely. Whittaker’s a really tough kid.”

Tom Taylor - September 14, 2017

When it was announced that Jon Jones had failed a drug test administered on the eve his of UFC 214 knockout of Daniel Cormier, it called his win into question. When Jon Jones’ B sample came back and confirmed he’d indeed ingested the banned substance Turinabol, it sucked the legitimacy out of his win – at least in the eyes of the sanctioning California State Athletic Commission. Shortly after the results of Jones’ B sample were released, the CSAC overturned his win over Cormier, rendering it a no-contest. From there, the UFC reinstated the former champ Cormier as the reigning champion.

Justin Golightly - September 12, 2017

Creeping up on us after the last minute switch-out of UFC 215, UFC Pittsburgh is a sleeper card with some guaranteed killer fights. Headlining the card is former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold fighting David Branch. The welcome wagon continues for Branch, after getting a win over over Krzysztof Jotko at UFC 211. It was the first time since 2011 that Branch fought in the UFC, meanwhile he was off in World Series of Fighting becoming a two-division champion, holding both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles. He brought more than just his experience becoming a “champ champ” back into the UFC with him, wasting no time showing everyone what kind of attitude he brings into fights. “[Luke Rockhold]’s going to try and come out to establish his dominance. He’s going to try and run his alpha male sh-t on me and I’m going to shut that sh-t down, obviously. I think that in that fight against [Michael] Bisping the motherf-cker slipped up. You can’t go out there and take anybody lightly. That’s the thing with me, I come from a different background than Luke, and I don’t have that kind of indoctrination that he does. I come from the f-cking streets and I don’t take anybody lightly.”

Tom Taylor - September 12, 2017

On November 4, in the main event of UFC 217, former UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre is scheduled to make his long-anticipated return to the Octagon. His opponent will be UFC middleweight king Michael Bisping. At least, that’s the plan. In the opinion of former champion Luke Rockhold, St-Pierre’s actually showing up on fight night is unlikely. Rockhold shared his doubts about St-Pierre on a recent episode of MMAJunkie Radio, also assuring that if the Canadian bails on UFC 217, he’ll happily step in to replace him.

Tom Taylor - August 13, 2017

Late last month, in the main event of UFC 214, then UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier stepped into the cage with his arch-enemy, former champ Jon Jones. Unfortunately for Cormier and his fans, Jones came out on top this night, sealing the dealing with a thudding shin to the head in the third-round. Just like that, he’d reclaimed the light heavyweight throne, while Cormier’s title reign had screeched to a grim end. Unsurprisingly, the ever-passionate Daniel Cormier did not take this loss well. Immediately after the fight, during an ill-advised interview with Joe Rogan, he broke down in tears, indicating clearly that he was both concussed and heartbroken.

Tom Taylor - August 9, 2017

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is not a fan of the way Michael Bisping has been comporting himself as the reigning champ. In fact, he believes Bisping should be stripped of the UFC middleweight belt, as his only defense thus far has come against an aging Dan Henderson, and his next defense will pit him against former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre. Rockhold made the case for the UFC’s stripping of Bisping in a recent interview with ESPN: