Rockhold thanks Belfort for knocking him out back in 2013

Back in 2013 Vitor Belfort scored one of the most impressive knockouts of the year when he KO’d Luke Rockhold.

Belfort went on to eventually fight Chris Weidman for the UFC middleweight championship, where he was TKO’d in the 1st round.

Rockhold bounced back and went on a 5-fight win streak that ultimately saw him TKO Chris Weidman for the UFC middleweight championship this past weekend at UFC 194.

Rockhold spoke on The Fighter and The Kid podcast to discuss why being KO’d by Belfort was actually great for him.

“All the weight came on my shoulders at that time, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. If you look at how I carried myself after that fight and how much better I’ve gotten from that, I was a kid then and I matured so much more in and outside the cage. That fight was everything to me. I’m so thankful I got kicked in the head. Thank you (Belfort), thank you but I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Rockhold has stated since the fight that he would like to host the Vitor Belfort retirement party at UFC 200 and get some revenge on ‘The Phenom’ but only time will tell if he gets his wish.