Luke Rockhold had just retired after losing to Paulo Costa last August, but the former UFC middleweight champion has spoken of a possible return if Alex Pereira wins the belt.
His long-time teammate and friend Daniel Cormier has since responded, sternly urging the 37-year-old to stay with his retirement and stay out of the fight.
Daniel Cormier Told Luke Rockhold Stay Away From Fight and Enjoy His Retirement
Morning Report: Daniel Cormier doesn’t understand Luke Rockhold’s latest callout: ‘[Paulo Costa] still looked pretty good’ last fight (@DrakeRiggs_) https://t.co/vGEY1TRtWR pic.twitter.com/aiORr4PR04
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) February 25, 2022
“I wanted to speak directly to my friend Luke Rockhold,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Luke, don’t come back. It’s only been a few weeks and it’s absolutely perfect. It’s perfect, it couldn’t be better. Because Luke Rockhold has always been the unloved guy, but in that scene in the performance, he got the accolades from the crowd. Not only did he get the accolades from the crowd, he got the accolades from his opponents in the game. I tell you; Paul Costa came to me a week later and told me how special it was to share the Octagon with Luke.
“Luke, don’t come back. It’s okay. Do jiujitsu if you want. Go to ADCC,” he said.
“You have to get over that urge. We all figured out, where do we start with ‘you know what, I can still’ – no, we can’t! …I can’t. Maybe Luke can go away for a while, But I advise him to stay away. Don’t look back, especially now.
“Instead of trying to rebuild (that glory) and chasing it, call me, call Khabib. We’re going to talk about the glory days of our best days, but I don’t know if it’s right to go back to fighting now matter.
“If I give advice to my brother, don’t come back. What’s the point?” Cormier said. “Champion, stay home and enjoy your retirement. I’m telling you, you’ll get used to it.”
It’s worth mentioning that Costa, who likes to lure people online these days, now claims he never talked about Rockhold the way Cormier just described.
Rockhold had an impressive career in both Strikeforce and the UFC, winning the middleweight title and going 14-1 in both promotions from 2008-2015. However, he turns 38 in October and has only won once in the past seven years.
His wild bout with Costa earned him “fight of the night” honours, but Rockhold admitted he looked “old” as he decided to retire after the loss.
