Quote: Title Shot For Luke Rockhold Makes Sense, Not Guaranteed
UFC middleweight contender and former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold may have had a rocky start to his new home under the Zuffa banner, but it seems all that is behind him now. “”Rocky” got blasted by Vitor Belfort when he debuted back in 2013, but has been on fire ever since.
Putting together a four-fight/finish streak in the talent deep middleweight category has put the AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) mainstay in good standing. So good in fact, that UFC president Dana WHite tells MMAFighting.com that Rockhold is all but guaranteed a title shot next:
“Probably. It makes sense that he would be next, yes, that he would be next, Who knows how all this stuff is gonna play out.”
White also acknowledges that Vitor Belfort is still waiting to face Chris Weidman at UFC 187, so things could still get shook up with inuries etc:
“Even talking about it doesn’t make sense because, first of all, Chris still has to fight Vitor, and whoever wins has to come out uninjured, which hasn’t been easy to do lately, and then we have to make sure Luke stays healthy,” he said. “We’ll see what happens with Weidman and Vitor and we will go from there.”
Wins over Michael Bisping and former light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida have put the spotlight firmly on Rockhold’s stage, and he outright challenged “The All-American” after submitting “The Dragon” last month. This of course would depend on the current champion getting past the raging “Phenom” on the 23rd.
So what does the future hold for Luke rockhold? A title fight is clearly quite likely, but would he be able to bring the belt home from a man that already knocked him out, or a dominant Chris Weidman?
