Luke Rockhold explains why Alex Pereira being the middleweight champ would make him unretire: “Let’s get the free belt”

Luke Rockhold says Alex Pereira becoming the middleweight champ would make him unretire.

After Rockhold lost a decision to Paulo Costa at UFC 278, he announced his retirement from the sport. The fight marked his return to the sport after his knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in his light heavyweight debut. Although he has now officially retired, Rockhold isn’t fully ruling out a return to the sport.

https://twitter.com/SubmissionRadio/status/1574880234343911424

“If I get inspired, if someone inspires me to get back in it…you never know,” Rockhold said to Submission Radio about how he would unretire. “That Brazilian dude winning the title. Alex Pereira. He’s gonna have every wrestler in the fucken game just chomping at the bit to get that guy. Let’s go. Let’s get the free belt.”

Even though Luke Rockhold thinks he would have a ton of success against Alex Pereira, he knows he would need a win to get a title shot. That means he would likely need to face Robert Whittaker which he isn’t fond of doing.

“The only thing is you gotta fight Robert Whittaker or some s**t in between, it f*****g hurt. To win or lose to Robert Whittaker, that sh*t hurts. It’s gonna hurt, we’re gonna fight,” Rockhold added.

However, in order for any of this to happen, Alex Pereira will need to beat Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 281 on November 12. If he does, perhaps we see Rockhold return in 2023 as he looks to go on another title run.

Luke Rockhold, as mentioned, is coming off the loss to Costa and is on a three-fight losing skid and is just 1-4 in his last five. His last win came against David Branch in 2017 but he still remains a big name given he’s a former champ so if he returns, he would be right back in the title mix.

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