Former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold will no longer be competing at 185 pounds going forward, as light heavyweight is the new home for the fighter.
Rockhold was ready to move up a weight class earlier, but a chance to fight at UFC 230 in Madison Square Garden had temporarily halted the move.
“I was ready to move up, and then they enticed me with that fight to get to Madison Square Garden and I made myself believe I can do it,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “But your body breaks down in camp. Everything just starts falling apart when my weight gets down further and further, and when the stress of the fight builds up, my body just falls apart. So it’s been meaning to happen for the last few years. I’ve been killing myself for many years now trying to make that weight. It makes me less of a fighter. So, I’m ready to move on and I’m ready to light these guys up.”
The bout at UFC 230 never took place, as Rockhold suffered an injury and was pulled from the bout.
If Rockhold has one goal to accomplish when moving up a weight class, it would be to shut the whole division down.
“You’ve got guys making waves at light heavyweight that are somewhat laughable,” he said. “Couple of middleweight washouts reaching into the top 10 within a few fights. The division is open – I’m ready to feast. Anthony Smith, yeah. (Thiago “Marreta”) Santos came up just recently, too. These guys, I’m just not impressed – not impressed with these guys. They’re a little sloppy in so many ways, and I see openings and I’m ready to move up. The rest of the division, there’s a couple of good guys up there – but I don’t see much. I’m ready to come up and I’m ready to shut it down.”
There is no official word yet on when Rockhold will make his UFC Light Heavyweight Division debut, but the fighter did say it could happen around March of next year.
