Luke Rockhold says it was “a wise move” for Khamzat Chimaev to turn him down

Luke Rockhold believes it was a smart move by Khamzat Chimaev to turn him down.

While Rockhold was hinting at a return to the Octagon earlier this year, he claims he was offered Chimaev and accepted the fight. Yet, the Swede turned it down as he wanted to stay at welterweight and ended up facing Li Jingliang and then Gilbert Burns. As for Rockhold, he was booked to fight Sean Strickland at UFC 268 but it didn’t come to fruition and he will now face Paulo Costa at UFC 277.

“It gets me up in the morning. It’s always, I mean, I’m not here to fight bums. I’m here to fight people that have proven their worth, and that gets me excited. I don’t get excited to get up and fight f*****g idiots,” Rockhold said to ESPN. “Honestly, the Sean Strickland thing wasn’t that motivating. Paulo, he’s tested himself against the best and he’s just a f*****g piece of s**t and a meathead. So there’s certain parts about him that just get me excited to go correct the situation and get back on top. So, that’s what motivates me, I want people that motivate me.”

Image via @lukerockhold on Instagram

Although Luke Rockhold is now fighting Paulo Costa he still is disappointed he didn’t fight Khamzat Chimaev. He makes it clear the Swede turned him down but he says that was a wise move for his career.

“Khamzat didn’t take the fight, by the way, we were set to fight. He wanted to stay at 170. I think that was a wise move for him at this point,” Rockhold added.

Luke Rockhold has not fought since UFC 259 when he made his light heavyweight debut and was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz. Prior to that, he was knocked out by Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight title as his last win came back in September 2017 when he beat David Branch by TKO.

What do you make of Luke Rockhold saying Khamzat Chimaev turning him down was a wise move?