“He’s had a good career. He’s been a great fighter. I’d like to see him hang it up.”
Luke Rockhold’s light heavyweight debut at UFC 239 was a disaster.
The former UFC middleweight champion suffered his second consecutive knockout loss, this time at the hands of heavy-hitting Pole Jan Blachowicz, last night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Not only was Rockhold brutally knocked out but the 34-year-old suffered a broken jaw, per UFC president Dana White.
Speaking to reporters at the UFC 239 post-fight press conference on Saturday, White said he would like to see Rockhold, a 12-year MMA veteran, hang up the gloves and call it a career.
“I think Luke Rockhold should talk about hanging it up,” White said, per MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin. “He broke his jaw tonight. So that’s the second broken jaw. He’s been knocked out viciously a few times here. Shin is all banged up. He had to skin graph and all kinds of stuff.
“He’s had a good career. He’s been a great fighter. I’d like to see him hang it up.”
White believes Rockhold, who recently secured a lucrative modelling contract with Ralph Lauren, would be wise to pursue a full-time career in that particular industry going forward.
“He’s got another career that he’s actually doing well at,” White said. “Everybody’s a f—king model, ‘I’m a model, I’m a model’ — that guy’s actually really modeling for Ralph Lauren. So good for him.”