We may have seen the last of Luke Rockhold inside the Octagon.
Rockhold appeared to be full of confidence going into his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz. The former UFC middleweight champion was dismissive of the 205-pound contenders and said he was the one who could give Jon Jones the most trouble. Rockhold ended up being knocked out by Blachowicz in the second round of their July bout.
Luke Rockhold Done With MMA Competition?
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani was told by Rockhold that he doesn’t plan to enter the Octagon again in the near future.
“I have no interest in fighting right now,” Rockhold said.
When pushed on the possibility of walking away from MMA competition for good, Rockhold said it’s “very” possible.
Rockhold has gone 1-3 in his last four outings. His last win was a TKO over David Branch back in Sept. 2017. In his current rough stretch, he’s suffered knockout losses to Blachowicz, Yoel Romero, and Michael Bisping.
Shortly after Rockhold was stopped by Blachowicz, UFC president Dana White admitted to reporters that he’d like to see Rockhold retire.
“I think Luke Rockhold should talk about hanging it up. He broke his jaw tonight. So that’s a second broken jaw, he’s been knocked out viciously a few times here, shin is all banged up. He had to have a skin graft and all kinds of stuff. It’s just he’s had a good career, he’s been a great fighter. I’d like to see him hang it up. And he’s got another career that he’s actually doing well at. Everybody’s a f*cking model, right? ‘I’m a model, I’m a model.’ That guy’s actually modeling for Ralph Lauren so good for him.”
