Luke Rockhold targets summer return for “sexy” fight with Darren Till or Marvin Vettori

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is hoping to return to action in the summer—ideally for a “sexy” fight with Darren Till or Marvin Vettori.

Rockhold has not fought since July, 2019, when he was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz in his first fight in the light heavyweight division.

That being said, Rockhold has recently expressed interest in a return to the cage, and reaffirmed that interest during a recent appearance on Submission Radio, pointing to the summer as the ideal timeframe for his comeback.

“When the time’s right, when something really kind of appeals to me, it’s sexy,” Rockhold said (via LowKick MMA). “I want to come back for something that gets me excited, and I want to come back when I’m ready, when my body’s ready. I think early, late summer would be ideal.”

In terms of potential opponents for his return to the Octagon, Rockhold likes the sounds of a fight with Till or Vettori, two top-5 middleweights who will clash on April 10.

“It’s just matching up with the right person and the right thing that’s going to put me to where I want,” Rockhold said. “I’m not looking to just play around. I’m wanna go straight to the gut of this division. And most likely 185. Not ruling out 205. But I really just gotta push my body to get in shape and see where it wants to go. Right now, I’m light. I’m like 205-208 [pounds] right now, and I think that legitimately it’s going to be looking like I’m going back to middleweight. But we will see. If something pops up, you never know. If a fight falls apart, like many injuries do and COVID and everything that happens, I could be ready sooner than later.

“I think Chris Weidman, he’s not what he used to be,” Rockhold added, ruling out his long-time rival, Weidman, as a potential opponent. “And if he were to somehow change it around in this fight with Uriah Hall and do something, maybe? But right now, these other two fights are definitely more in my viewpoint. This Marvin Vettori kid is doing pretty well for himself, and Darren Till’s done a couple of things here. So, I like those fights.”

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