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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is making his return to mixed martial arts (MMA) at some point later this year, and has already offered longtime rival, Chris Weidman, the chance to run it back.
Rockhold defeated Weidman for the 185-pound strap when they went to war at UFC 194 nearly five years back, and it doesn’t sound like the former Strikeforce champ is overly impressed by what he’s seen from the “All American” in recent years.
That includes Weidman’s victory over Omari Akhmedov at UFC Vegas 6.
“Pathetic,” Rockhold told Submission Radio about Weidman’s performance. “Maybe he had weight issues or what. I mean, it looked like a heavyweight fight. It looked like a low-level heavyweight fight. I don’t know. I didn’t like it. It’s a comeback, it’s a weight issue. Maybe he’s got some issues, but nah … look, it was bad.”
Also looking bad, at least in the eyes of Rockhold, is the empty arena where fighters are forced to compete during coronavirus. That’s why the former model is hoping to land a spot on “Fight Island,” which sounds more like the lesser of two evils.
“It’s not that encouraging to fight in a sparring match in front of nobody,” Rockhold said. “It’s pretty fucking lacking. I mean, it’s just not fun to watch. You watch the fighters, you can’t hear the energy of the fans. I’d probably prefer Fight Island. I’m not really keen on the quarantine back and forth, but I’d probably prefer that over Vegas, fighting in the UFC TUF gym or whatever the fuck that is. It just sounds lame. It sounds really, really lame.”
Rockhold (16-5), has not competed since getting creamed by Jan Blachowicz in July 2019.