{"id":263381,"date":"2017-11-09T05:54:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T13:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=263381"},"modified":"2017-11-09T05:55:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T13:55:16","slug":"luke-rockhold-ready-fight-robert-whittaker-georges-st-pierre-doesnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/luke-rockhold\/luke-rockhold-ready-fight-robert-whittaker-georges-st-pierre-doesnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Rockhold is ready to fight Robert Whittaker if Georges St-Pierre doesn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre<\/a> captured the UFC middleweight title with a third-round submission over Michael Bisping. Though St-Pierre previously stated that he’s contractually obligated to fight interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next, former champion Luke Rockhold doesn’t buy that. In his opinion, St-Pierre is likely to hold up the middleweight division for some time before heading back down to welterweight where his heyday took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately it sounds like we have a hold up and it\u2019s gonna take some time to iron out what\u2019s next,” Rockhold said on a recent episode of Submission Radio<\/a> (h\/t MMAFighting.com<\/a>). “I know [St-Pierre] is contractually obligated to defend his belt, but as we all heard on the mic [at UFC 217], he\u2019s backtracking and he\u2019s trying to find his way out, seemingly…”<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s ridiculous if they were to let him hold onto it and not pull that,” Rockhold continued. “Let him relinquish that and go down to fight Tyron [Woodley] like it sounds like he wants to do. I think they should just get back to what made this company what it is. You go too far down the wrong trail and there\u2019s no turning back. You go too far into\u00a0Conor McGregor\u00a0<\/a>land and you get that fight going and the whole thing is a mess. They need to just put the best against the best in each division and stop jumping around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, Luke Rockhold says he’s up for fighting Whittaker \u2013 for the undisputed title \u2013 if St-Pierre holds up the division for too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked about [fighting Whittaker at UFC Perth] with the UFC and it is potentially on the table but I\u2019m not going out there to fight for the interim title. GSP needs to figure it out. He needs to move on, get out, and really, Robert Whittaker is the real champion. Bisping lost that title, in my eyes, a long time ago when he decided to fight guys outside the top ten, and welterweights for that matter. He earned it. He got the title but Whittaker\u2019s been the man for the last year. He\u2019s fought Jacare, he\u2019s fought Yoel, he\u2019s fought the top contenders and that\u2019s what it takes to be the champion. In my eyes, Whittaker\u2019s the champ. So I\u2019ll be ready to go to Perth, it\u2019s just a matter of how this whole thing plays out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Whittaker obviously wants that fight [with St-Pierre], as he should, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna get it. I\u2019m more than willing to move on and take him on in Perth. I love Australia and the kid’s a stud and I\u2019d be honored to fight him. \u201c<\/p>\n

Do you want to see Luke Rockhold fight Robert Whittaker?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 9\/11\/2017. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre captured the UFC middleweight title with a third-round submission over Michael Bisping. Though St-Pierre previously stated that he’s contractually obligated to fight interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next, former champion Luke Rockhold doesn’t buy that. In his opinion, St-Pierre is likely to hold up […]<\/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 is ready to fight Robert Whittaker if Georges St-Pierre doesn't | 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-ready-fight-robert-whittaker-georges-st-pierre-doesnt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luke Rockhold is ready to fight Robert Whittaker if Georges St-Pierre doesn't | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre captured the UFC middleweight title with a third-round submission over Michael Bisping. 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