[UPDATE]
Luke Rockhold vs. Sean Strickland has now been confirmed for UFC 268 on November 6 by multiple sources.
[ORIGINAL STORY, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020, 10:00 AM]
Luke Rockhold has responded to Dana White’s offer to fight #8-ranked middleweight Sean Strickland.
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has not been tight-lipped about his frustrations with the UFC regarding their matchmaking for him or lack thereof. After having announced his desire to return to competition back at the beginning of March, there has been no fight announcement made regarding Rockhold, only gripes shared by the AKA mainstay about a lack of an “exciting” matchup coming together, in large part because of the alleged disinterest ranked middleweights had in fighting him.
Yesterday, there was a major update on the matchmaking front when Dana White revealed that the UFC had offered Rockhold a fight against Sean Strickland, who is coming fresh off of a main event victory at last weekend’s UFC Vegas 33 over Uriah Hall.
In an appearance on Submission Radio on Wednesday, Rockhold responded to this proposal.
“I think Dana’s trying to make it harder than it has to be, really, obviously because of my outspokenness on different things. But this kid Sean [Strickland] has been offered, so they’re trying to do something. I haven’t heard any dates or anything like that, but that is something they’re interested in. Yeah, let’s do it.”
That now leaves Sean Strickland, who doesn’t seem to care much about rankings and politicking and only his next paycheck, so it seems likely that we’ll be seeing Strickland vs. Rockhold coming to a network or streaming service near you.
In this interview, Rockhold revealed that they had offered him Strickland in the past, but he failed to meet Rockhold’s excitement standards.
“They offered me Sean before, actually, a while back, and I wasn’t interested because he wasn’t the fight I wanted. It didn’t make any sense. No one knew of him, and I didn’t give two fucks about him,” Rockhold said frankly. “And now, it’s like Dana’s trying to piss me off with it. And now, he went out there and beat Uriah Hall. He looked decent, and he took a ranking, so there’s something to work with, I guess now.”
Rockhold Not A Fan Of Strickland’s Microphone Work
Now that Sean Strickland is a top-10 middleweight with a main event victory in his last outing, Rockhold has deemed him to be a worthy adversary, even if the former champion isn’t a fan of his cooky personality.
“He took a ranking. He did his thing. But he doesn’t help himself in any way, shape, or form with his style and his performance on mics,” Rockhold said.
With Strickland having shared his hope to someday murder someone inside the Octagon, labeling himself as a UFC prostitute, and informing fans and fighters about the benefits of masturbation, what’s not to like?
When asked about another one of Strickland’s viral remarks about cooking meth in a trailer basically being a Plan B career path, Rockhold did not seem to find any humor or entertainment value from these remarks at all.
“I was like, ‘Did that guy just really say that?’ And then a manager told me that’s his thing, that he says it every time. I’m like, ‘What a fuckin’ idiot.’”
Are YOU excited to see Luke Rockhold fight Sean Strickland if this bout gets finalized?
