Luke Rockhold names other potential opponents for comeback fight

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is plotting a comeback after a lengthy break, and sees many options in terms of his next opponent.

Earlier this week, in an interview with ESPN, Rockhold revealed that he intends to fight again, and targeted his former foe Chris Weidman as a potential opponent.

Speaking on Submission Radio, Rockhold re-upped on that callout, trashing Weidman’s recent decision win over Omari Akhmedov.

“Pathetic,” Rockhold said of Weidman’s performance in that fight. “Maybe he had weight issues or what. I mean, it looked like a heavyweight fight. It looked like a low-level heavyweight fight. I don’t know. I didn’t like it. It’s a comeback, it’s a weight issue. Maybe he’s got some issues, but nah … look, it was bad.”

Beyond Weidman, Rockhold also sees a number of other options for his next fight, including ranked middleweight contenders Darren Till and Jack Hermansson, and middleweight legend Anderson Silva.

“There’s Darren Till,” Rockhold said. “There’s the grappler, the Norwegian kid, he looks good, Hermansson looks tough. I want somebody who means something and is a name, something meant to be. I left the division the No. 2-ranked middleweight in the world. So, they can say what they want because I’m unranked at the moment, but I can come back and reassert myself very quickly if I need to.

“Anderson would be fun, but I don’t think he wants anything of this sort,” Rockhold added. “He called me out when he was in the UFC, and I called him out and he ran away, and then, you know, even at this point I don’t think he still wants it. I’ve put that fight in the hands of their team and they’ve seemingly worked their way around it as best they can over the years – many, many years of it.”

Rockhold is also interested in fighting former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, but believes the Australian has lost a step, and is keen to wait and see if he gets by Jared Cannonier.

“Rob doesn’t look like he’s got the fire he’s once had,” he said. “I mean, you gotta find the fire if he’s going to come back and compete at that level.

“I’m not opposed to  [fighting Whittaker]. I’m gonna let him go do his thing and then see how he fares. Cannonier’s got some… that dude’s got some fire in his blood. And so, if Robert doesn’t find that f**kin’ fire, he’s gonna fall short. So, I’m just looking at the division as a whole. And you gotta be ready, you gotta be fired up, you gotta be motivated.”

Who do you want to see Luke Rockhold fight in his return to the cage?