Luke Rockhold “might be getting an itch” to return to the UFC
Despite some tough losses, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is itching for a UFC return.
Walking away from MMA is one of the hardest things to do. Chuck Liddell famously held on for too long, getting viciously KO’d in three straight bouts before retiring. He then returned eight years later to once again get knocked out cold. There are successful comebacks, though, such as Randy Coutures legendary return to the UFC, capturing the light heavyweight belt from Tim Sylvia.
One fighter contemplating a UFC return is former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. While not formally retired, he did walk away from the sport of MMA following a devastating KO loss to Jan Blachowicz. That was Rockhold’s third KO loss in his last four bouts.
However despite those statistics, the idea of coming back to the UFC is crossing Rockhold’s mind lately.
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“That’s why I just kept my mouth shut,” Rockhold told MMA UK when asked about retiring and then staging a comeback. “People just do it to seek attention. I’m not trying to like make some big statement, make attention about it when I’m not sure about it.
“Here we are now. I’m getting healthier and I might be getting an itch. We’ll see.”
Rockhold has faced many of the best that the UFC middleweight division has to offer. He has defeated top-notch competition such as Lyoto Machida and David Branch. He admits that there are several possibilities if indeed he does come back.
“If Anderson [Silva] is still interested and seemingly he is, maybe, you never know. [Chris] Weidman’s got a fight coming up. If something, he comes out of that well, you never know. There’s options.”
However, Rockhold admits that with a global pandemic ongoing, a comeback is tentative at best. He’s first and foremost keeping his eyes and options open, seeing how things play out.
“We’ll see how the UFC and everyone comes out of this coronavirus epidemic because it’s going to bury a lot of companies,” Rockhold said. “I’m curious to see how these fights come to be.”
