Ever since Luke Rockhold teased that he was going to be moving up to the light heavyweight division, there has been one man waiting to welcome him to the division. Alexander Gustafsson was quick to stand in the doorway to Rockhold’s entrance into the new weight class. The former UFC middleweight champion is happy to oblige Gustafsson whenever they can step into the Octagon, but it looks like he already landed a pretty big blow.

@LukeRockhold . Heard u coming for me.. Can’t ask for more .chinny as middle weight. KO’d as a LHW. Fool yourself to believe its the weight cut.

I’ll wait for u!!

— Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) March 9, 2018

“I don’t see me coming back [to middleweight], man. The weight cut is too much on me. As you get older, your bones get bigger. The last couple cuts have been pretty brutal on me. I had trouble regulating my body temperature and all that sh-t. […] I like [Alexander Gustafsson’s call out]. I think it was petty coming after me so early [after the knockout loss to Yoel Romero]. I don’t know if he was trying to get under [Daniel Cormier]’s skin, but I’ll be coming. I’ll be coming to 205-pounds. I’m gonna handle my business and you better be sure I’m coming for that ass, too.” — Luke Rockhold speaking on The MMA Hour.

You know they say, with great risk comes great rewards. If Luke Rockhold goes up to light heavyweight and beats a guy like Alexander Gustafsson in his debut, then he just catapulted himself into title contention. That is, as soon as his friend and teammate Daniel Cormier retires early next year and the UFC figures out what to do with the vacant title. Then again, he’s also eyeing a fight with Michael Bisping as his first fight in the weight class.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/10/2018.