Michael Bisping Believes ‘Writing On The Wall’ Suggests Luke Rockhold Retires
Luke Rockhold has received a lot of criticism over the past few weeks. The former UFC middleweight champion was knocked out in vicious fashion at UFC 239 earlier this month (Sat. July 6, 2019).
Rockhold jumped up to 205 pounds for his divisional debut after being unable to regain the 185-pound title. His reign as champion ended in his first-ever title defense back in 2016 when he was knocked out by Michael Bisping at UFC 199. After his recent loss against Jan Blachowicz earlier this month, Rockhold has now lost three of his last four fights via knockout.
Speaking on his podcast, “Believe You Me,” Bisping offered his thoughts on Rockhold’s current situation. Bisping concurs with UFC President Dana White, who suggests Rockhold should consider hanging his gloves up for good. “The Count” said he believes “the writing on the wall” suggests the Californian retires (via MMA News):
“The amount of messages that people have sent me because everyone seems to think that I’m gonna take pleasure in seeing Luke knocked out like that, and it’s the opposite…the opposite. I really feel for the guy. I do,” Bisping said.
“I feel bad for him. It’s a real shame. Not only did he get his jaw broke, but he’s now been knocked out cold, viciously, in three of his last four fights. And I can’t help but think that he’s done. Now that doesn’t mean that he’s gonna be. What he could do is come back and prove everybody wrong, prove me wrong.
“That’s what I would’ve done. That’s kind of what I did. And if he does that, then my god, he’ll have my respect forever. But I gotta say, the writing on the wall looks like his career is over.”
The fact that Rockhold has been knocked out so many times in the past few years, Bisping believes the former champion will have some serious psychological demons to overcome should he decide to continue fighting:
“It’s not only the fact that A, he’s been knocked out three times out of his last four,” Bisping said. “It’s not only the fact that he’s got a broken jaw, and that’s gonna take some time to heal back from.
“It’s also the fact that it’s one thing getting knocked out cold once and coming back from that. But when you’ve been knocked out cold three of your last four, I mean, that is some psychological demons to overcome.”
Do you think Rockhold’s days competing inside the Octagon are behind him?
