{"id":250153,"date":"2017-09-26T11:47:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T18:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=250153"},"modified":"2017-09-26T11:47:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T18:47:56","slug":"luke-rockhold-grim-outlook-middleweight-title-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold\/luke-rockhold-grim-outlook-middleweight-title-situation\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Rockhold has a grim outlook on the middleweight title situation"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 4, in the main event of the absurdly stacked UFC 217, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre<\/a>. The expectation is that the winner of this fight will then battle interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to unify the titles. In the opinion of Luke Rockhold, however, that’s just not going to happen.<\/p>\n

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour<\/a>, Rockhold shared his worry that, no matter the outcome of UFC 217’s main event, the winner won’t fight Whittaker \u2013 or any other top middleweight contenders for that matter.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe Bisping will,\u201d Rockhold said. \u201cHe\u2019s ran this far. He\u2019s finally gonna come up and get a payday. Either way, I don\u2019t think either one fights any of us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s nervous, he\u2019s scared,\u201d Rockhold added later. \u201cHe knows his time is limited. He\u2019s gonna have to run. I\u2019m gonna be there. I\u2019m gonna put myself on that stage, on that doorstep. He\u2019s gonna have to make a choice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rockhold, of course, doesn’t think St-Pierre should have been awarded the title shot to begin with.<\/p>\n

\u201cGSP, he\u2019s overstepping his boundaries,” he said. “He\u2019s jumping into a world that he\u2019s not ready for. I mean, even if he were to win this fight, he\u2019s unprepared to fight any of us. That\u2019s not gonna happen. It just doesn\u2019t make any sense. And it\u2019s annoying. It\u2019s what we all worked for, is to get to that title. To have that thing held hostage is frustrating. The direction this company is going, just feeding the people this bullshit. I fight to get the title, I fight to be the best. There\u2019s two of them out there and I\u2019m trying to hunt one down. So, obviously Bisping is my first priority. If not, Whittaker is there<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Rockhold’s doubts are certainly justified, St-Pierre has previously assured that his new contract will require him to defend the middleweight title if he wins it.<\/a><\/p>\n

What do you think of these comments from Luke Rockhold?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 9\/26\/2017.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 4, in the main event of the absurdly stacked UFC 217, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The expectation is that the winner of this fight will then battle interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to unify the titles. In the opinion of Luke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":250155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10150],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuke Rockhold has a grim outlook on the middleweight title situation | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold\/luke-rockhold-grim-outlook-middleweight-title-situation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luke Rockhold has a grim outlook on the middleweight title situation | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On November 4, in the main event of the absurdly stacked UFC 217, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will defend his title against returning former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The expectation is that the winner of this fight will then battle interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to unify the titles. 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