Luke Rockhold UFC Release Opens New Doors
There has been a major wave of social media influencers, athletes and former fighters participating in the fairly new realm of celebrity boxing. The UFC’s release of Luke Rockhold opens new doors for the former middleweight champion to potentially be the next name in that realm.
The celebrity boxing movement is spearheaded by the Paul brothers, Jake and Logan. The two have managed to attract names like Floyd Mayweather, Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley into the ring with them.
Rockhold certainly fits the mold of most of Jake’s opponents and seems primed to move in the direction, one many retired fighters have gone in recently. The 38-year-old free agent would be a compelling opponent against Jake or many others in the celebrity boxing industry.
End of an Era
Rockhold’s time as a fighter in the UFC officially came to an end at UFC 278. The former middleweight champion was officially released by the UFC a few months after a three-round street fight with Paulo Costa.
In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Rockhold was visibly emotional and seemingly unfulfilled after the decision loss. Despite this, Rockhold implied that age and injury were catching up with him — even after a three-year absence from the octagon.
While he may never fight for the UFC again, Rockhold’s release from the promotion opens new doors as a free agent, giving him the freedom to pursue other opportunities on his own.
What’s Next?
The emotional post-fight speech made by Rockhold seemed to be a retirement speech more than anything. His comments on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour podcast indicated quite the opposite, however.
On the subject of him being a free agent, Rockhold spoke about the autonomy he has to navigate a post-UFC life.
“To be able to go and have freedom, to go box, to go fight elsewhere, there’s a lot of different avenues as you’ve seen with the Nate Diaz and Francis (Ngannou) and a lot of people,” Rockhold said. “There’s a lot of interesting, innovative companies coming up.”
It seems that Rockhold is more refreshed and hungrier than ever to get back into the fighting world. The always confident, borderline arrogant Rockhold also remarked to Helwani, “I want to go f*** some people up.”
Luke Rockhold, love him or hate him, is a UFC legend. While he is not in his prime anymore, he is poised to continue his career as a combat fighter. The type of fight, the opponent and the date are the only questions now.
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Great article.