Could we see Luke Rockhold back in action in 2023?
Five and a half months ago, former UFC champion Luke Rockhold declared retirement at 37 years of age. It happened right after his Fight of the Night performance against Paulo Costa at UFC 278, which he lost on the scorecards.
“I’ve been through so much the last few years. Thank you, fighting. Thank you UFC. Thank you, Joe. I f—ng can’t do it anymore. I gave it my all and I just didn’t… I’m f—g old,” a visibly distraught Rockhold told Joe Rogan during the Octagon interview.
But as we’ve seen across combat sports, retirement announcements almost always never stick. And at least based on this recent social media post by Rockhold, it’s looking like he’ll be part of that statistic soon (H/T MMA Mania).
Rockhold, who captured the UFC middleweight title in 2015, has gone 1-4 since then. His loss to Costa compiled to a current three-fight skid, which included an unsuccessful one-off run at light heavyweight against former champion Jan Blachowicz. He holds a record of 16-6.