Michael Bisping has appeared to squash his past beef with Luke Rockhold and thinks his former rival may be on the verge of another run in the UFC.
Rockhold was supposed to return in 2021 at middleweight against Sean Strickland, before suffering an injury just before their scheduled fight. He remains intent on a return to the cage sometime in 2022.
Bisping and Rockhold went to battle twice before during their careers, once at a UFC Fight Night event in 2014 and once again at UFC 199. Bisping pulled off one of the most shocking upsets in UFC history, knocking out Rockhold for the middleweight title on short notice.
Things appeared to remain tense between the two middleweights after their last fight, but their beef has been squashed as Bisping and Rockhold have been seen training together on numerous occasions.
During a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, Bisping reminded fans that Rockhold may not be done in chasing UFC titles.
Michael Bisping Believes In Luke Rockhold
“People forget about the body of work he had,” Bisping said. “What he’s capable of. The top control, what he can do to people. The damage he can do to people. The kicks, the length, the size, the kind of athlete he is. He’s a world-class surfer, skateboarder, excellent jiu-jitsu. If he comes back and beats [Paulo] Costa, he’s right back in the mix. If he could beat a Costa, you could see a title fight for him pretty, pretty quick.” (h/t BJPenn)
One thing that Rockhold has to his advantage is the fact that the current middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, is running out of potential title challengers. This could potentially shorten Rockhold’s path to the title depending on how things play out and how he looks in his return.
Rockhold doesn’t have a fight booked as of now, but he could potentially return against a solid contender and prove that he’s still a force to be reckoned with at 185 pounds.
Who do you want to see Luke Rockhold face next in the UFC?