Luke Rockhold: Yoel Romero Wanted To Delay Into Three-Round Fight
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold hasn’t competed since last June, when he was shockingly knocked out by current titleholder Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 199, but he’ll return to action in the main event of Sept. 16’s UFC Fight Night 116 against former WSOF (World Series of Fighting) champion David Branch.
Many were a bit surprised when Rockhold was booked against the No. 9-ranked Branch, but the ex-champion recently said that he had difficulty finding an opponent:
“Really what it comes down to is, I can’t wait anymore,” Rockhold said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I had the thought process of waiting for that fight. In June it was Anderson Silva in Rio, he wouldn’t take the fight. Then they moved onto Gegard Mousasi, couldn’t get him to sign the fight. I mean, I went to 205, to Shogun (Rua), to try to get (Fabricio) Werdum (at heavyweight). I’ve tried to get everybody I could possibly think about to get a fight that really got me up, but no one would take a fight, and now we’ve come down to David Branch was the only guy in the top-10 that would take a fight, from June to July to August to September, and it’s time.”
One opponent that seemed likely to be matched against Rockhold was fellow top contender Yoel Romero, who’s coming off of a loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 213 last month. Rockhold, however, claimed that Romero tried to ‘delay’ the negotiations in order to land a three fight:
“I tried to get everything that made a bit of sense and no one would step up and fight,” Rockhold said. “Yoel wanted to delay and get a three-round fight as much as he could. We all know his issues with fighting a real fight.
“I wanted a fight, and like I said, the delays, I was ready to go. Yoel wanted to delay it into a three-round fight. I mean, let’s call it what it is. I was more than happy to fight Yoel. I would’ve loved the opportunity to end all the talk and shut his mouth. It’s a fight I’ll fight here shortly, I’m sure.”
What do you make of Rockhold’s comments, and how do you expect him to look when he takes on Branch next month?
