A couple of weeks ago, the idea of an Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight bout between top-10 fighter Sean Strickland and former champion Luke Rockhold had little momentum behind it. However, after one week of trash talk via interviews and social posts, the planned matchup might be one of the most anticipated on the UFC’s fall schedule.
Sean Strickland has plans on-sight plans for Luke Rockhold
Earlier in the week, Rockhold spoke publicly about the likelihood of his long-sought-after return to Octagon coming against Strickland. Although the UFC Vegas 33 main event winner’s stock is at an all-time high, it seems Rockhold was taking the fight begrudgingly after all his preferred opponent options fizzled out in recent months.
In an interview with Submission Radio, the 36-year-old called “Tarzan” a “f*cking idiot” and elaborated on how the matchup gave him little excitement when it was originally offered by the UFC months ago. Well, word of the former Strikeforce champion’s comments got back to Strickland, and he took to his Instagram account to respond.
And in classic Strickland fashion, it was an f-bomb and violence-laden rebuke to the Californian.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSKVwNIpiCa
“A bunch of people have been messaging me that Luke Rockhold’s been running his mouth, calling me a ‘f*cking idiot’ and a nobody. And all these things, they might be true, but I’ll tell you one thing man, me and you might never fight. I don’t care about fighting in the cage for ego reasons. I like to get paid, it’s something I enjoy. But I’ll tell you f*cking one thing, you can’t just live in a radius of me and run your f*cking mouth and not expect me to hit you in the face,” Strickland said in the video.
“We don’t need to fight, that’s fine. But I am going to run into you [eventually and], I’m gonna walk up to you and smack you in the f*cking face. and you seem like the kind of p***y that runs his f*cking mouth and gets hit, and then calls the cops. But you’re such a smug, cocky mother f*cker that I would probably take a misdemeanor charge just to f*cking smack you and watch your f*cking head bounce off the ground.”
Although not officially announced yet, a booking between the eighth-ranked Strickland and Rockhold is expected to take place in New York at UFC 268, on November 6. The card is headlined by a welterweight rematch between champion Kamaru Usman and former interim titleholder Colby Covington.
Strickland’s (23-3) last bout came in July at UFC Vegas 33. On that night he was victorious by unanimous decision over Uriah Hall in his first headlining spot in the UFC. The former welterweight is currently on a five-fight win streak.
Rockhold (16-5) has not competed in the Octagon since a 2019 knockout loss to current light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239. The former two-time MMA middleweight champion has lost three of his last four, all by knockout.
