Ex-UFC Middleweight Champ Luke Rockhold Targets Eventual Move to 205 Pounds

Luke Rockhold had just made an emphatic return to the middleweight division with an emphatic stoppage of David Branch in the UFC Fight Night 116 headliner, but he was already pondering a future in a different weight class on Saturday night.

“This weight won’t happen forever,” Rockhold said on Fox Sports 1. “Maybe ‘DC’ will retire or go up and take on the next division.”

“DC,” of course, is Daniel Cormier, Rockhold’s American Kickboxing Academy training partner and the recently reinstated light heavyweight champion. While Cormier isn’t likely to retire or move up to heavyweight just yet, Rockhold believes he can be successful at 205 pounds after draining himself to make the middleweight limit.

“I’d love to [move up]. Trust me, I’m getting a little tired of these weight cuts,” Rockhold said. “I feel much better at 205, and I feel like I can do very well in there. I’ve got some business here [at 185 pounds].”

The “business” to which Rockhold refers is the middleweight title, which he lost in shocking fashion to Michael Bisping at UFC 199. Bisping will defend the belt against Georges St. Pierre in the UFC 217 headliner at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4. In his post-fight Octagon interview, Rockhold delivered a not-so-subtle message to GSP: Bisping is his fight.

“I have no injuries,” Rockhold said. “I’m ready for November.”

If and when the move to light heavyweight does happen, Rockhold doesn’t want to mess around with a tune-up fight.

“[I want] a contender fight,” he said. “We’ll see. I’m not going anywhere until DC moves up or moves out. I have business here [at 185 pounds] first.”