It’s safe to say that former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold isn’t a fan of Sean Strickland’s antics.
Rockhold is working towards a return to the UFC in 2022, nearly three years after his last fight against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. He has alluded to a move back to middleweight after falling flat in his light heavyweight debut.
Rockhold was supposed to face Strickland at UFC 268 to wrap up 2021, but Rockhold pulled out with an injury. Strickland was removed from the card and instead fought and defeated Jack Hermansson at UFC Vegas 47.
Tensions flared when Strickland threatened Rockhold on his social media pages, going as far as to promise a fight with Rockhold if the two ever met in a parking lot.
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Rockhold made his opinion of Strickland as clear as can be.
“I don’t have a lot of respect for the man, what that man says; I don’t think anybody does,” Rockhold said. “I don’t think he really knows what he’s talking about. When you’ve done that many drugs, I don’t know if things really come out clearly. I don’t know if there’s much of a thorough process to what he does. I think why he’s so effective is he doesn’t think, he doesn’t know. He just fights with stupidity. It actually benefits him to a certain extent.”
Rockhold has previously said that Strickland is “stupid but effective” when it comes to his brash approach to fighting. Rockhold has fought and defeated some of the best ever in the middleweight division, including Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida.
Following his win over Hermansson, Strickland appears to be knocking on the door for a potential middleweight title shot. He could earn a No. 1 contender fight next or a possible showdown with his adversary Rockhold.
What are your thoughts on Sean Strickland?
