Luke Rockhold updates on possible move to light heavyweight

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made a triumphant return to the cage, emerging from a hiatus of more than a year to clobber former World Series of Fighting champ David Branch to a second-round stoppage.

With this win, Rockhold reiterated his status as one of the world’s premier middleweights. That said, he generated quite a bit of excitement post-fight by suggesting that his future might just be in the light heavyweight division. The main thing that is currently stopping him from moving up, he explained, is that his friend and training partner Daniel Cormier currently sits atop the division.

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Rockhold updated on this possible move to the 205-pound light heavyweight division. Apparently, it’s still a compelling option for him, as the cut to the middleweight division’s 186-pound limit is becoming increasingly arduous.

“At light heavyweight, I feel great,” he said. “I’d do just fine.”

“It’s never easy,” Rockhold continued when asked about his weight cut. “I wouldn’t say [the cut for my fight with Branch] was the worst, but like I said it’s never easy. As you get older, your bones get thicker and it’s harder to cut the weight off.”

Rockhold then confirmed outright that, at some point, he definitely will move up.

“Yeah, at some point I definitely will be,” he said.

When asked if he would ever fight Daniel Cormier, however, Rockhold answered with an emphatic shake of the head ‘no.’

How do you think Luke Rockhold would perform against the world’s best light heavyweights? Do you think he could win the divisional title? Join the debate in the comments section.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/25/2017.