Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, told the mixed martial arts (MMA) media that he was ready to shut down the light heavyweight division after parting ways with the 185-pound weight class.
A task that seemed fairly easy, since everyone at light heavyweight is a “sloppy bum.” That includes former title contender, Anthony Smith, who was supposed to get exposed by Alexander Gustafsson at UFC Stockholm.
Didn’t exactly work out that way.
Neither did Rockhold’s 205-pound debut, which came against veteran slugger, Jan Blachowicz, on the UFC 239 pay-per-view (PPV) main card. Not only did Rockhold leave “Sin City” with a mangled maw, he also faced retirement questions from UFC President, Dana White.
Sounds like this story has a happy ending … at least for Smith.
“I would have loved to have been the guy that put Rockhold out like that, but I think it serves him right,” Smith told SiriusXM Fight Nation. “All the trash talk, all the ‘Anthony Smith is a bum, Gustafsson’s gonna roll over him and I’m gonna starch Jan,’ and just the disrespect and just looking right over Jan. So it’s unfortunate that his jaw is broken. I don’t want anybody to get hurt but it is nice to, again, see Rockhold get it shoved right in his face. Every single time he’s trashed talked somebody and been too cocky and thought he was too good for everybody and that his shit doesn’t stink, he ends up being the one that looks stupid. So I’m glad that the MMA gods made sure that that kept happening.”
Rockhold (16-5) has yet to comment on his UFC 239 loss.
What’s most troubling for the former Strikeforce champion, who turns 35 in October, is that he’s now been starched in three of his last four fights, and in the wake of his Blachowicz bomb, we can no longer blame that on his grueling weight cut.
As for the surgically-repaired Smith (32-14), he’s taking some time off after submitting Gustafsson last month on ESPN+. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rematch with Thiago Santos somewhere down the line, as “Marreta” also came up short against Jon Jones.
Or maybe it’s time for a “loser leaves town” match against Rockhold?