Luke Rockhold shares the three favorite fights of his storied mixed martial arts career

Luke Rockhold has shared the three favorite fights of his storied mixed martial arts career.

Rockhold, 37, (16-6 MMA) recently retired following UFC 278, after being defeated in the co-main middleweight event by Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA) by unanimous decision. Speaking with Joe Rogan, during his Octagon interview, the Californian stated:

“I’ve been through so much the last few years. Thank you, fighting. Thank you UFC. Thank you, Joe. I f****ng can’t do it anymore. I gave it my all and I just didn’t… I’m f****g old.”

Rockhold had a 15 year career which saw big wins against fighters that included Michael Bisping, Lyoto Machida, Tim Kennedy, David Branch and others.

Speaking on ‘The MMA Hour’ the former UFC Champion shared his favorite fights (h/t MMAFighting):

“Those moments that define you as a man, I think those are the biggest moments — and there’s three that really stick out. For me, it’s my fight with (Ronaldo) ‘Jacare’ (Souza). It made me whole. It made me a man. That gave me relevance in life. And then the stages of the game, there’s always goals within goals, and then there was the fight with (Chris) Weidman. Doing that and achieving that height, you know?”

Continuing Luke Rockhold said:

“And then coming back and doing this (against Costa), proving it to myself that — where I needed to go after losing track of myself, letting society kind of direct what I should want, what I thought I want, and then having to come back down to reality and figure out what the f*** I want really. … I had to lose myself to come back, and now we’re going to f****** show people, show people the truth. That’s how I saw it.”

Rockhold went on to share some advice for the next generation of MMA fighters, and that is  – be careful who represents you, saying:

“Get a manager that’s not connected to the game, that’s not part of the f*****g system. There’s a f*****g few managers that work for the UFC. We all know who you are. You’re f*****g the sport up. And the kids that follow them, you’re all f*****g it up.”

“How the f**k are they going to work for you when it comes down to it? When you’ve got that title money, when you get the (leverage) right, when you f*****g play hardball? Because hardball is what gets you f*****g paid and gets you f*****g relevance in life. And when you have managers that work for the f*****g UFC, they ain’t going to stand up for you when you f*****g want that worth. When you want that f*****g paycheck, when it really comes down to it and you don’t want just your win and your show (purse) — get your f*****g worth. Don’t f*****g play the system because it’s easy, don’t sign that last fight contract because it’s easy. Hold out to the f*****g end and put your f*****g balls on the line.”

What do you think of Rockhold’s 3 favorite fights? Do you agree with his advice about representation for up and coming MMA fighters?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!