Luke Rockhold Wants ‘Sexy’ Fight For Comeback, Eyes Till & Vettori
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is hoping to land a “sexy” comeback fight and has named Marvin Vettori and Darren Till as potential opponents.
Rockhold hasn’t fought since July 2019 when he stepped up to light-heavyweight.
The 36-year-old was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz who has since gone on to capture UFC gold at 205lbs.
The former 185lb king was seriously considering retirement post-fight but has since announced his intention to fight on.
Rockhold’s Octagon return has been delayed by a shoulder injury but the Californian is currently in talks with the UFC about a potential fight in the summer.
“They’ve been reaching out, talking, just keeping tabs on my situation and letting me know that they’re interested. As am I,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “When the time’s right, when something really kind of appeals to me, it’s sexy. 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. And I think early, late summer would be ideal.
“It’s just matching up with the right person and the right thing that’s going to put me to where I want,” Rockhold added. “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.”
Rockhold is more interested in going after the new crop of UFC middleweights rather than running things back with his old rival Chris Weidman. Rockhold famously beat Weidman to capture the middleweight title in 2015. Both men’s MMA careers have taken a turn for the worst since then.
“I think Chris Weidman, he’s not what he used to be,” Rockhold said. “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 when he returns?
