"Water under the bridge" - Sean Strickland invites Luke Rockhold for a sparring session

Sean Strickland (left) and Luke Rockhold (right) [Images Courtesy: @seanstrickland_mma and @lukerockhold on Instagram]

It's hard to tell whether the beef between Sean Strickland and Luke Rockhold is over.

'Tarzan' recently offered the former UFC middleweight champion a sparring session, but the message was somewhat ambiguous. Strickland posted on Twitter:

"@LukeRockhold hey man gonna be in Costa Mesa tomorrow. Would like to hit someone. Water under the bridge. Let's spar tomorrow;)"

@LukeRockhold hey man gonna be in Costa Mesa tomorrow. Would like to hit someone. Water under the bridge. Let's spar tomorrow;)

One can't be certain if Strickland will show up at the RVCA Gym where Rockhold trains or if this was a challenge to a street fight.

The fighters were scheduled to meet at UFC 268 in November last year. However, a month before the fight, Rockhold announced that a back injury had forced him to withdraw.

This led to Strickland's accusations of the former champion looking for an opportunity to duck him, with 'Tarzan' suggesting that Rockhold never really intended to take the fight in the first place.

Sean Strickland reacts to Luke Rockhold withdrawing from there fight at 268 https://t.co/NDe2TAL5Vw

Rockhold announced that he suffered from a herniated disk in his back and that he was told by the doctor to get some rest. The former middleweight champion stated that he required treatment and apologized to everybody for the fight being canceled.

Luke Rockhold announced in an Instagram story that he is out of his scheduled bout against Sean Strickland at UFC 268 on Nov. 6 due to a herniated disk in his back.

(via @marc_raimondi) https://t.co/fdFtp7Bil0

Paulo Costa on fighting Luke Rockhold

Luke Rockhold is also in the sights of Paulo Costa.

During a recent interview with Sherdog, Costa spoke about his desire to fight Rockhold if such a bout was met with fans’ approval. 'The Eraser' is looking to bounce back after two straight losses and believes a fight against a ranked opponent or fan favorite is the right next step in his UFC career:

"I really think Rockhold is a good name as well. He has some popularity, he's a former champion. The only problem is he's out of rank. But if the fans want this fight, it will be very good entertainment, we can do it."

Paulo Costa is currently ranked No.4 in the middleweight division. He recently lost to Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision in his light heavyweight debut. This was Costa’s second loss in a row in the UFC. The first was an unsuccessful attempt to dethrone middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Rockhold's last fight also served as his light heavyweight debut, against Jan Błachowicz. The former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion was knocked out in the second round.

Watch Paulo Costa talk about fighting Rockhold at 3:10 of the video below: