At long last, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has a date an opponent for his anticipated light heavyweight debut.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Rockhold will make his debut in the 205-pound division against Poland’s Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. The card goes down on July 6 in Las Vegas, in the heat of the UFC’s annual International Fight week.
Luke Rockhold has not fought since February of 2018, when he suffered a brutal knockout loss at the hands of Yoel Romero. In his next most recent fight, he weathered some early adversity to stop David Branch with strikes. This victory was preceded by a shocking, first-round knockout loss to Michael Bisping, which marked the end of his brief reign as UFC middleweight champion. He won the belt in a December, 2015 war with Chris Weidman. He enters the light heavyweight division with a 16-4 overall record.
Jan Blachowicz, on the other hand, last fought in late February, when he was knocked out by the brick-fisted Thiago Santos in the main event of UFC Prague. This setback marked the end of an impressive, four-fight streak for the Polish fighter, composed of victories over Nikita Krylov, Jimi Manuwa, Jared Cannonier, and Devin Clark. Blachowicz is 23–8, and currently ranked sixth in the light heavyweight division.
How do you think Luke Rockhold will perform in the dangerous UFC light heavyweight division?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/20/2019.