Truth be told, I was more into Luke Rockhold’s win. I know Luke’s brother. Haven’t met Luke yet, though. Saw him fight many years ago for Strikeforce. The middleweight belt championship was a good fight too, although it seems to be completely overshadowed by that 13 sec KO in our ADHD world. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1289346]Truth be told, I was more into Luke Rockhold’s win. I know Luke’s brother. Haven’t met Luke yet, though. Saw him fight many years ago for Strikeforce. The middleweight belt championship was a good fight too, although it seems to be completely overshadowed by that 13 sec KO in our ADHD world. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
It is interesting that within the last 30 days, three seemingly ‘unbeatable’ champions have lost in dramatic fashion.
These comparisons are ridiculous. People are always trying to use a pro to legitimize their art. And nothing Conor does is really that unorthodox. Side kicks and spinning side kicks are certainly not done by the majority, but they are also not truly rare in MMA. As for the rest of his stuff, he makes the corkscrew work, but that’s not really a rarity either. Its just that its a more lefty thing. It was actually the Weidman/Rockhold fight that had the more kungfu type weapons in use; Weidman’s epic fail wheel kick and Rockhold’s ?-kick (a high chambered snap kick to roundhouse at head level).
People are going to blow up McGregor’s win. And he did win dominantly so not taking that away. But lets be real. Aldo didn’t go 10 years without a loss by being a chump. This fight was a fluke. McGregor may have the edge, but this was a 1 in 1000 result.
[QUOTE=SoCo KungFu;1289367]These comparisons are ridiculous. People are always trying to use a pro to legitimize their art. And nothing Conor does is really that unorthodox. Side kicks and spinning side kicks are certainly not done by the majority, but they are also not truly rare in MMA. As for the rest of his stuff, he makes the corkscrew work, but that’s not really a rarity either. Its just that its a more lefty thing. It was actually the Weidman/Rockhold fight that had the more kungfu type weapons in use; Weidman’s epic fail wheel kick and Rockhold’s ?-kick (a high chambered snap kick to roundhouse at head level).
People are going to blow up McGregor’s win. And he did win dominantly so not taking that away. But lets be real. Aldo didn’t go 10 years without a loss by being a chump. This fight was a fluke. McGregor may have the edge, but this was a 1 in 1000 result.[/QUOTE]
I have to disagree with you about the fight being a fluke. Conor McGregor is a knockout artist. He has finished 89% of his wins by knockout. He has knocked out several people who had never been knocked out including Aldo and guys with good chins like Mendes. He finished another fighter in 16 seconds and another fighter in 4 seconds! Jose Aldo is certainly no chump but he fought sloppy. He rushed McGregor and went for a power punch early without setting it up. McGregor countered him with perfect timing and knocked him out. It’s the fastest finish in UFC championship history. Such things happen even to the best fighters.
[QUOTE=SoCo KungFu;1289367]These comparisons are ridiculous. People are always trying to use a pro to legitimize their art. And nothing Conor does is really that unorthodox. Side kicks and spinning side kicks are certainly not done by the majority, but they are also not truly rare in MMA. As for the rest of his stuff, he makes the corkscrew work, but that’s not really a rarity either. Its just that its a more lefty thing. It was actually the Weidman/Rockhold fight that had the more kungfu type weapons in use; Weidman’s epic fail wheel kick and Rockhold’s ?-kick (a high chambered snap kick to roundhouse at head level).
People are going to blow up McGregor’s win. And he did win dominantly so not taking that away. But lets be real. Aldo didn’t go 10 years without a loss by being a chump. This fight was a fluke. McGregor may have the edge, but this was a 1 in 1000 result.[/QUOTE]
It was strange seeing the fake snap to the round kick, a couple times I believe, but I’m always happy to see people trying new things… I felt Weidman was losing the whole time, before that terrible, sloppy wheel kick. But the fight should have been stopped in the third, Herb Dean let that ground and pound go on way too long. I get it’s Weidman, championship fight and close to the bell, but he took an unnecessary amount of damage.
I disagree on McGregor/Aldo being a fluke though, unless your just meaning how fast he ended the fight. Aldo is an amazing fighter, but so is McGregor, wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he wins a rematch.
[QUOTE=Kellen Bassette;1289379]It was strange seeing the fake snap to the round kick, a couple times I believe, but I’m always happy to see people trying new things…
The front snap is the set up. If it lands great. But its mainly to draw down the hand to check it and quickly rotate over to the head kick. Obviously, this takes some measure of hip flexibility to pull off at fight speed that most people don’t really have.
[quote]I felt Weidman was losing the whole time, before that terrible, sloppy wheel kick. But the fight should have been stopped in the third, Herb Dean let that ground and pound go on way too long. I get it’s Weidman, championship fight and close to the bell, but he took an unnecessary amount of damage.[quote]
I wouldn’t say the whole time. He opened strong. He needed to keep the fight on the cage. Once he started fighting flat footed it started to go downhill. I don’t mind Dean letting them fight. It was close to the end of the round and while he was taking shots, he was actively trying to defend and regain control of Rockhold’s posture.
I disagree on McGregor/Aldo being a fluke though, unless your just meaning how fast he ended the fight. Aldo is an amazing fighter, but so is McGregor, wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he wins a rematch.
Not how fast. How efficiently. KO’ing Aldo on first successful blow is in the realm of being struck twice by lightning improbability.
Luke
I just copied this off the Conor-McGregor-being-compared-to-Bruce-Lee thread. There are a few more references to Luke here. I still haven’t met him, and his brother has left the job where I associated with him, so I’ve somewhat lost contact. I just wanted to post this because…well, I don’t know why really.
[URL=“http://www.tmz.com/2016/08/26/demi-lovato-dating-ufc-superstar-luke-rockhold/”]DEMI LOVATO
DATING UFC’S LUKE ROCKHOLD …
We’re Cool for the Summer
8/26/2016 1:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
EXCLUSIVE
Secret’s out … Demi Lovato is dating UFC superstar Luke Rockhold – and TMZ Sports has learned it’s a romance that’s been blooming for a couple months.
Our sources tell us … the 24-year-old singer hit it off with the 31-year-old former UFC middleweight champ earlier this year while training at Unbreakable gym in Los Angeles.
Long story short … we’re told the two clicked right away – and have even sent some secret inside messages to each other on social media … including a back and forth with smiley face art on their fingers.
Congrats!
Story by
[IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:“https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Djz_NKnm6i72jLM2TQFEjA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MTtjZj13ZWJw/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2025-09/2b84c820-88f6-11f0-9fff-faf62a97a972”}[/IMG2]
Luke Rockhold was one of the best middleweights of the 2010s.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
Drake RiggsUncrowned
September 3, 2025 at 12:40 PM PDT·
4 min read
Luke Rockhold is taking a step back after his latest setback against Darren Till at Misfits Boxing 22.
The former UFC middleweight champion made his professional boxing debut against fellow UFC veteran Till on Saturday in Manchester, England. Unfortunately for Rockhold, the foray into the sweet science resulted in his first knockout loss in six years, as Till scored a brutal third-round finish.
Rockhold, 40, revealed Wednesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he’s putting his combat sports career on hold for the foreseeable future.
“I’m 40 years old and I can’t be taking shots like that,” Rockhold said. "I want a future for myself, and I’ve got a lot of good things in the works. So it’s around about that time.
“There’s not much left to do. I’ve done a lot in this sport. I’ve won my championships. I’ve done Karate Combat, I’ve done bare-knuckle [boxing], I’ve done boxing, jiu-jitsu, all at the toughest level. I compete with the best of the best, but I think it’s time to put the competition shoes on hold.”
Rockhold entered the Misfits Boxing ring after going 1-2 in his post-UFC forays across combat sports. Since parting ways with the company in 2022, Rockhold suffered a bare-knuckle boxing defeat to Mike Perry in an April 2023 showdown with BKFC, followed it up with a Karate Combat win over Joe Schilling in April 2024, then dropped a decision to Pat Downey in a CJI grappling match in August 2024.
Plenty of legendary fighters of the past have struggled in Rockhold’s position to refrain from continuing down the path of competing well past their best days, and in the early wake of his loss to Till, Rockhold knows it will be a challenge for him to stick to his word. He danced around the word “retire” on Wednesday, even if the implication was clear.
“There’s other forms of competition, for sure,” Rockhold said. "To tell you the exact truth, I did feel good [against Till]. I was putting in my game plan and what I did. I had sparred maybe one time this camp. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spar too much. I had a little crack in my rib. Before the first press conference, I sparred a big heavyweight and he hit me with a good shot. I thought I could work around it, and I wasn’t able to spar the rest of the camp.
“I tried one time, and it ignited some soft tissue damage and stuff. So my timing just wasn’t perfect. You can hit pads, bag work, and do everything you can to prepare, but you’ve got to see punches, and I was getting off. I was doing my thing, but Darren is sharp as can be. If you’re not really ready for those moments, you’re going to get hit, and I slipped up and he got through, and that was the wrap.”
Rockhold first joined the UFC in 2013 as part of the Strikeforce merger, having reigned over Strikeforce as its middleweight champion. After suffering a setback to Vitor Belfort in his UFC debut, Rockhold proved to be as good as advertised, embarking on a stellar five-fight finish streak that consisted of former and future UFC champions Lyoto Machida, Chris Weidman and Michael Bisping.
The victory over Weidman at UFC 194 in 2015 became Rockhold’s crowning achievement, earning him the status of undisputed UFC middleweight champion. Although Rockhold’s career never again matched the same heights it reached during that run, he’s content with what he accomplished all these years later.
“There’s always things that gnaw at you, but at the same time, I’ve done a lot in the sport,” Rockhold said. "I won a few Strikeforce world championships and I became the undisputed UFC world champion, so I’m pretty happy with where I’m at. I still will continue to train, I still will continue to test people. We have a great thing here with the Santos Studio and ‘Jaxxon Podcast,’ so we always have top-tier talent coming through Newport Beach. I always like to test people. I might not want to take the hardest shots from the biggest hitters, but I’m going to test myself and keep pushing myself.
“The real competition is going to be behind me. I’m not taking shots like that anymore. I do value my health and I like to think clearly. I’m going to go through a little protocol and get my head right, and make things right. Clean it up.”
I hadn’t thought about Rockhold until just a few weeks ago when I was at a Dragonhouse fight and he came up on conversation.