Israel Adesanya picks the perfect UFC middleweight to end Luke Rockhold's opponent hunt
Luke Rockhold has been looking for a suitable opponent for his return to the octagon and the middleweight king Israel Adesanya has a suggestion for him.
In a recent interview with Helen Yee Sports, Adesanya was answering questions on a range of topics when he suggested the perfect opponent for Luke Rockhold.
Israel Adesanya told Helen Yee-
"Putting him up against... (Paulo) Costa. That'll be a good fight. I would like to see that. Yeah, put him up against Costa."
Israel Adesanaya faced Paulo Costa in his most recent middleweight title defense.
'The Last Stylebender' put on a dominant striking display and delivered a TKO win over the Brazilian just under four minutes into the second round.
With the loss against Adesanya, Paulo Costa had his five-fight winning streak, which included four stoppage victories, snapped.
Costa was expected to face fourth-ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier in August, but Kelvin Gastelum is expected to take his place after 'Borrachinha' announced he was withdrawing from the bout.
Meanwhile, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is looking to return after a hiatus of two years.
Rockhold went 2-3 in his last five outings, with his latest victory dating back to a 2017 TKO victory against David Branch.
Luke Rockhold is unable to find the opponent he wants
Before going on a hiatus, Luke Rockhold moved up to 205-pounds and suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Jan Blachowicz in his debut outing at light heavyweight.
Prior to that, Rockhold had lost an interim middleweight title fight against Yoel Romero in the UFC 221 main event.
Luke Rockhold has now expressed his desire to make a return at 185-pounds but says he is struggling to find a worthy opponent.
Venting about the difficulty of finding an opponent, Rockhold said in a recent episode of the Real Quick with Mike Swick podcast-
"It's really about finding someone who's gonna fight. I need to find a top ten guy who's ready to sack up and who's ready to fight. There's already been multiple people in the top ten making excuses why they don't wanna fight me...who the f**k are you to turn down a fight, where's your entitlement."