Luke Rockhold names one opponent he regrets not fighting in the UFC

Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold still hasn’t decided if he’ll fight again, but for the moment, it’s not a priority.

“I’m taking a leave of absence,” Rockhold said on the Major Waves Podcast (via MMA Junkie). “I’m just kind of doing my thing right now — getting life organized, getting things together. It’s good to be back on the West Coast. I was training out in Florida and it’s just – Florida’s tough. It’s hot, it’s humid – it’s a different lifestyle.”

If Rockhold does retire, he can do so with his head held high, having bested the likes of Tim Kennedy, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Michael Bisping, Lyoto Machida, and Chris Weidman.

While Rockhold has accomplished a lot over the course of his career, however, there is one matchup he feels like he missed out on: a fight with former UFC middleweight champ and bona fide MMA legend Anderson Silva. He came close, but an infamous knockout loss to Vitor Belfort dashed those dreams.

“I wish I would have had the chance to fight Anderson,” “Especially in that time, I think I would have beat him. I don’t know – I think there’s just promotional reasons. They didn’t see it quite right at that time. If I would have beat Vitor, then me and Anderson would have fought right away, straight away. But then I had to go reprove myself through the ranks after that loss.”

The good news for Rockhold is that, given that neither he nor Silva is officially retired, the matchup may still be possible.

Rockhold added that he also would have loved to settle his 1-1 tie with fellow former champ Michael Bisping, but doubts its doable now that Bisping is retired.

“I think I just kind of came to the conclusion where I’m just content with it,” Rockhold said. “Obviously, there’s easy fights where I’d like them back and I knew that I could have wrote that story differently – like my second fight with Bisping. But I’m not going to get that. I’m a realist.”

What do you think the future holds for Luke Rockhold?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/3/2020.