Don’t expect former champion Luke Rockhold to make good on a UFC comeback soon, unless some big demands are met.
A former middleweight champion in the Octagon, Luke Rockhold departed the organization back in 2022 after a memorable comeback fight against Paulo Costa.
And departing the promotion off the back of a three-fight losing skid — two of which courtesy of two hellacious knockout losses to Yoel Romero and Jan Blachowicz, Rockhold has since switched to bare-knuckle boxing, pro boxing, and even karate.
Ahead of his MisFits Boxing return against Darren Till, the Californian veteran has shut the door once more on a comeback to the UFC, unless his sizeable demands are met.
Luke Rockhold wants title shot in order to make MMA return
Briefly signing with the GFL (Global Fight League) earlier this year, Rockhold was booked to fight fellow UFC alum Chris Weidman in a rematch of their middleweight title fight in the Octagon back in 2015.
But failing to ever fight the Baldwin native for a second time, Rockhold, who beat Weidman to win the middleweight title in their UFC 194 clash, claims only a title fight would make him really consider a comeback to mixed martial arts.
“I do well. I’ve got a lot of good investments, and I’ve got some money. I’m not rich by any means so it’s get rich or die trying,” Rockhold told MMA Fighting.
“…Why the f— would I go back to MMA? There would have to be a big opportunity and a big reason. There would have to be title implications and there would have to be big money,” Rockhold explained.
But with a title fight return in the UFC potentially a tall order for the Santa Cruz veteran, he’s offered his analysis of the newly minted middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.
Luke Rockhold names one foe who could beat Khamzat Chimaev
Turning in a stunning title victory last weekend, Chimaev toppled the defending champion Dricus du Plessis with ease in a shutout decision win.
And ready to take on all comers already, Chimaev has been linked with a laundry list of potential challengers to his new throne.
As far as Rockhold is concerned, however, the surging Reinier de Ridder presents the biggest threat to Chimaev’s reign in the immediate future.
“I don’t like to give him much credit because he’s not that good, but I still think a guy like Paulo Costa would pose problems,” Rockhold told Bloody Elbow. “His wrestling defence is not bad and look at what he did against Yoel Romero, even though Romero doesn’t stick to his wrestling but he was able to defend a lot of takedowns.
“But in reality, I like De Ridder. He’s probably the number one choice for this thing, for sure.”