{"id":385125,"date":"2021-05-12T16:25:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T23:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=385125"},"modified":"2022-02-04T15:22:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T23:22:13","slug":"luke-rockhold-suggests-there-are-multiple-people-in-the-top-10-making-excuses-not-to-fight-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/luke-rockhold-suggests-there-are-multiple-people-in-the-top-10-making-excuses-not-to-fight-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Rockhold suggests there are “multiple people in the top 10 making excuses” not to fight him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) is having trouble booking an opponent for his return to the Octagon.<\/p>\n

Rockhold, who has not competed since suffering a knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz in July of 2019, announced his intentions of making a UFC comeback early last fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, over the last nine months nothing has been announced by the promotion. According to Luke Rockhold, the holdup is due to the fact that no one in the top 10 of the UFC middleweight division is willing to throw down.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s time to smash some heads,” Rockhold said on the Real Quick With Mike Swick podcast<\/a> (via MMAMania<\/a>). “My body feels good, I\u2019m walking around at 205 pounds. Everything is pretty smooth, I just need to find some sucker to take the fight … [Middleweight], that\u2019s where I\u2019m at. I\u2019m walking at 205 pounds, so for me that\u2019s where I feel good. That\u2019s where I feel light, where I feel comfortable, and that\u2019s where I\u2019ve done my damage, where I won my world titles. And I plan on doing it again.”<\/p>\n

\"Luke
Image via @lukerockhold on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Luke Rockhold continued:<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really about fighting someone who\u2019s going to fight,” he said. “I need to find a top 10 guy who\u2019s willing to sack up and ready to fight. There\u2019s already multiple people in the top 10 making excuses for why they won\u2019t fight me. It\u2019s like who the f\u2014k are you to turn down the fight? Where\u2019s your entitlement in what you think you have? My last fight [at middleweight] was against Yoel Romero, who missed weight for a world title in Perth two years ago. So I\u2019ve left the rankings but I\u2019ve not really left the rankings. I\u2019m still there just as much as I want to be. And everyone knows who I am and what I can do and I think everyone is just making excuses for why they won\u2019t fight me right now.”<\/p>\n

Luke Rockhold is hoping the UFC find him a credible and exciting opponent for his Octagon return.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve been hunting down the list looking for something credible, something fun, something exciting. I\u2019m not just going to fight anyone, I want something that gets me excited, gets the fans excited, something that makes somewhat of sense. So I want to come back in and do this thing right.”<\/p>\n

Who would you like to see former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold matched up against for his return to the UFC? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) is having trouble booking an opponent for his return to the Octagon. Rockhold, who has not competed since suffering a knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz in July of 2019, announced his intentions of making a UFC comeback early last fall. However, over the last nine months nothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54469,"featured_media":271882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10150,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuke Rockhold suggests there are "multiple people in the top 10 making excuses" not to fight him | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) is having trouble booking an opponent for his proposed return to the Octagon.\" \/>\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\/ufc\/luke-rockhold-suggests-there-are-multiple-people-in-the-top-10-making-excuses-not-to-fight-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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