Bisping: I think I took Rockhold’s soul and he’ll never fight again
“I think I took his soul. I don’t think we’ll ever see Luke Rockhold again. I beat the $#!@ out of him.”
Luke Rockhold began fighting in 2007 and went 1-1. Then he entered Strikeforce and won six a row, then won the promotion’s middleweight belt, and defended it successfully twice. When the UFC aquired Strikeforce, Rockhold’s first fight was a loss to a TRT fueled Vitor Belfort. But again, Rockhold went on a streak, winning four in a row and then defeating Chris Weidman for the UFC middleweight championship.
Still, throughout his career, there was a sense that his fan attention was not equivalent to his skill level. Then in his first title defense, Rockhold was knocked out by Michael Bisping. That was on June 4, 2016, and Rockhold has been little heard from since, as he recovers from ACL surgery. On Monday he said he hoped for a return in July, vs. Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza
And during a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Bisping cast shade on a figure who has always been just slightly in the shadows.
What is Luke Rockhold doing? asked Bisping, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “When did he say he’s going to fight again? What are his plans? I do believe we are now almost in March. That fight was in June. I don’t know what happened there, but I think I took his soul. I don’t think we’ll ever see Luke Rockhold again. I beat the s*** out of him. I don’t know, I think he’s done. The way he went down, I think so. Why hasn’t he fought again?
A lot of time has passed. If that were me, I would’ve been right back in there.
So it’s not bad enough that he needs surgery, but he needs, what, he needs nine months to go travel the world and be a playboy? That doesn’t sound like a man who wants to be champion again to me.
It is not know who Bisping will fight next, but the possibilities included #1 contender Yoel Romero, and Georges St-Pierre.