Luke Rockhold News

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 239, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Thiago Santos will step into the cage together with gold on the line. Earlier on the same card, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will make his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz. If he’s successful, he believes he could be rewarded with a shot at the Jones vs. Santos winner. From the sounds of it, Luke Rockhold considers a Jon Jones win a near certainty. And because Jones’ arch rival Daniel Cormier is tied up at heavyweight, the former middleweight champ believes the path to a fight with Jones is wide open.

Tom Taylor - July 3, 2019

In December of 2015, Luke Rockhold handed Chris Weidman his first professional loss, and stole the middleweight belt from him in the process. Given the competitive nature of this title fight, and Weidman’s previous dominance, the pair were then scheduled for an immediate rematch. Thanks to a Weidman injury, however, this rematch never materialized.

Fernando Quiles - June 30, 2019

Luke Rockhold is aware of Chris Weidman’s planned move to light heavyweight and he feels it was the right choice. Back in Dec. 2015, Rockhold and Weidman did battle for the UFC middleweight championship. At the time, Weidman was the 185-pound title holder with three successful title defenses. Rockhold handed Weidman his first professional loss via fourth-round TKO, taking the middleweight gold in the process.

Tom Taylor - June 28, 2019

Earlier this month, in the main event of UFC Stockholm, Anthony Smith picked up arguably the biggest win of his MMA career, submitting three-time light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson. In the moments after this loss, Gustafsson announced his plan to retire from MMA — which is why Luke Rockhold didn’t find Smith’s win very impressive. Rockhold has previously been very critical of Smith’s ability, and saw nothing special in his defeat of Gustafsson, who had seemingly lost his will to fight.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2019

With two title fights and a host of other marquee matchups, UFC 239 is absolutely stacked. From the sounds of things, however, the July 6 card soon become a little less stacked. According to a report from Kevin Iole, the UFC is considering moving a light heavyweight bout between Luke Rockhold and Jan Blachowicz from UFC 239 to UFC San Antonio on July 20, two weeks later. The UFC is trying to move Jan Blachowicz versus Luke Rockhhold off of UFC 239 on July 6 and put it on UFC on ESPN 4 on July 20 in San Antonio. Not done, but in the works. UFC not looking at a Shevchenko-Carmouche bout for that date at this time.

Tom Taylor - June 5, 2019

Last weekend, Anthony Smith established himself as one of the top contenders in the light heavyweight division by defeating Alexander Gustafsson — something only a few truly elite fighters have done before. “Who else has done it? If you take Phil Davis out of it because that was a long time ago, who else has done it? Jon [Jones], ‘Rumble’ [Anthony Johnson] and D.C. [Daniel Cormier],” Smith told MMA Fighting. “That’s a pretty good group of guys to be mentioned with,” Smith told MMAFighting when speaking about his win. “At this point, I don’t know what else I’d have to do to answer any questions of my legitimacy. Honestly I don’t care. I’m just really happy that I’ve inserted myself among the top two guys in the world or three guys in the world if you keep D.C. in there.”

Cole Shelton - May 27, 2019

Before Anthony Smith fought Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title at UFC 235, former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold called him out. The 34-year-old pointed to Smith’s resume to show just how easy it was to get a title shot at 205-pounds, which “Lionheart” didn’t like. Since then, the two have gone back-and-forth in interviews. And, now Rockhold expects Alexander Gustafsson to put Smith in his place when the two fight this weekend.

Chris Taylor - May 25, 2019

No matter what happens in his fight with Alexander Gustafsson next weekend, it appears that Anthony Smith is on a collision course with former UFC middleweight champ Luke Rockhold. Smith and Rockhold have been trading barbs back and forth on social media ever since ‘Lionheart’ suffered a unanimous decision loss to Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 235 this past April.

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2019

After a long career in the middleweight division — including title wins in the UFC and Strikeforce — Luke Rockhold is headed up to the light heavyweight division. In this new division, he’s hoping to advance through the ranks and ultimately collide with reigning UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. Should Luke Rockhold earn this opportunity, he believes he’ll be the man to dethrone the seemingly unstoppable champion.

Chris Taylor - April 13, 2019

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has fired back at Anthony Smith, this after “Lionheart” suggested he would drill a hole in his head. The recent light heavyweight title challenger, Smith, had gone off on Luke Rockhold during yesterday’s UFC Press Conference.

Tom Taylor - April 12, 2019

UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith is generally known as a polite and level-headed fighter. When he was asked about former UFC middleweight champ Luke Rockhold at Friday’s UFC seasonal press conference, however, Smith showed a fiery side of his personality we don’t often see. “That guys a f***ing piece of shit,” a fired up Smith said of Rockhold. “F**k Luke Rockhold. The first opportunity I get, I’m gonna drill a hole through Luke Rockhold’s f***ing face. I promise you guys that.”

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2019

At long last, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has a date an opponent for his anticipated light heavyweight debut. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Rockhold will make his debut in the 205-pound division against Poland’s Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. The card goes down on July 6 in Las Vegas, in the heat of the UFC’s annual International Fight week.

Drake Riggs - March 11, 2019

It has been over a year since we last saw former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, competing inside the Octagon. For the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product, that most recent appearance, unfortunately, came in a devastating loss to Yoel Romero in the headliner of UFC 221 in Perth, Australia.

Chris Taylor - February 23, 2019

Thiago Santos (21-6 MMA) picked up the sixteenth stoppage victory of his career tonight in Prague, but that wasn’t enough to impress Luke Rockhold. The former UFC middleweight champion, Rockhold, took to Twitter shortly following Santos’ third round TKO victory over Jan Blachowicz with the following message.

Drake Riggs - January 30, 2019

Yesterday, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was officially re-licensed in the state of Nevada despite his recent red flags surrounding his picogram-metabolite revealing positive testings. With the re-licensing, it means that Jones is able to once again compete in Nevada which is where his next bout will be held when he is to take on top contender, Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith.

Drake Riggs - January 7, 2019

Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier is one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history. Now that Jones is back and the light heavyweight champion once again, it can potentially set up a trilogy bout for the two. ‘Bones’ currently leads the series 1-0 (1 NC). Since Jones vs Cormier 2 at UFC 214 in July 2017, Cormier has gone on to become the UFC heavyweight champion. Thus having made him the double champ as he held both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles at the same time.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2018

Former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is heading to light heavyweight. After teasing the move for months, Rockhold committed to it on a recent episode of Submission Radio.

Cole Shelton - October 25, 2018

Luke Rockhold was expected to fight Chris Weidman again at UFC 230 in New York, New York at Madison Square Garden. However, Rockhold had to pull out of the fight against Weidman with a leg injury. Ultimately, the former middleweight champion didn’t want to pull out, but he had to. “The leg injury has been a f*cking nightmare, a complete nightmare. It was a misinformed surgery. Unfortunately, I was misguided by a couple of doctors, and I wouldn’t say malpractice, but it was a pretty idiotic move to open me up on the blade of my shin where they did, and everything I learned thus far,” said Rockhold to Submission Radio.