UFC News: Luke Rockhold reveals his future plans for the UFC Middleweight Division
What's the story?
In late 2017, Luke Rockhold first bought up the plans of a potential move to the UFC Light Heavyweight Division, however, during a recent interview with Submission Radio, Rockhold has revealed what the future currently holds for him in the UFC.
In case you didn't know...
Luke Rockhold made his UFC debut in 2013 at UFC on FX 8 when the Strikeforce MMA organization was eventually closed down and several notable fighters from the promotion were brought in by the UFC, including former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold.
In his first fight in the UFC, Rockhold suffered a devastating KO loss to veteran Vitor Belfort, when the Brazilian caught the former with a spinning heel kick to the face. However, following impressive wins over the likes of Michael Bisping and Lyoto Machida, Rockhold finally got his first shot at UFC gold at UFC 194 against Chris Weidman.
At UFC 194, Rockhold went on to defeat Weidman in the fourth-round of their fight and became the 7th ever UFC Middleweight Champion in history. Rockhold, however, dropped the UFC MW Title to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 in what was considered as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.
The heart of the matter
Ahead of his much-anticipated rematch against Chris Weidman at UFC 230, Luke Rockhold recently sat down for a conversation with Submission Radio and during the interview, the former UFC Middleweight Champion claimed that as of right now, he has apparently put his plans of moving up to the LHW Division on hold. (H/T: Bloody Elbow)
“Chris Weidman at Madison Square Garden. Simple enough. It’s a big fight, in a big arena, a place I’ve always wanted to go, and a perfect match-up. It’s a very fitting situation. It’s something that gets me up, it gets me excited, makes me wanna come back and drop that weight, I guess."
In addition to it, Rockhold noted that there's apparently a lot of things he needs to deal with before his eventual move up to the Light Heavyweight Division, where its current champion is non-other than Rockhold's AKA training partner Daniel Cormier.
“And there’s a hold up in the (light heavyweight) division. Obviously I’m very close to DC and I know his standing and where he’s going and what’s going on right now, so there’s just a lot of things that need to be cleared up before I make that move and run the pond at light heavyweight.”
What's next?
UFC 230 will take place on the 3rd of November, 2018 at The Madison Square Garden in New York City and as of right now, several top fights have been confirmed for the show, including a bout between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier.