Top-ranked middleweight contender Luke Rockhold has been cleared to resume training after recovering from a broken toe in his right foot, MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported on UFC Tonight.
A former Strikeforce champion, Rockhold (12-2) suffered the injury midway through his dominant UFC 172 performance over Tim Boetsch, which he won in a little over two minutes via an inverted triangle/kimura.
The 29-year-old AKA product is currently the No. 5 ranked middleweight in the UFC, and including his win against Boetsch, has picked back-to-back victories with an average cage time of 2:19, helping his stock to rebound after he suffered a highlight-reel spinning heel kick knockout loss to Vitor Belfort in his UFC debut.
Rockhold now approaches a curious crossroads, as not only does he hold wins over both men ranked directly above (Ronaldo Souza) and below (Tim Kennedy) him stemming from his time in Strikeforce, but the rest of the division’s top-10 is already either booked, injured, or carries a recent loss to Rockhold. That is, all aside from three men: Vitor Belfort, C.B. Dollaway, and Lyoto Machida, who just fought 25 hard minutes on Saturday.
As a result, Rockhold left little ambiguity in regards to his desired next step.
“I want Vitor,” he told Helwani. “If they won’t grant me that then I want the title, I’ve beaten everybody else.”