MMA Fighting - Luke Rockhold explains why he's returning to fighting, weight class plans and ideal opponents

Episode Date: August 26, 2020

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold explains why he's decided to make his return to action after more than a year away from the sport, his expectations for the comeback and ideal opponents he'd like to face when he fights again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Damon Martin, MMA fighting. And one of the biggest stories of the week was the news that former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was going to be making his return to action after hinting at the potential end of his career just 10 months ago. So with that, let's talk to Luke and see what he has to say about his return and when we will likely see him fight again. Let me just start with the biggest question, man. Obviously, we know the word is out there. You're going to be coming back.

we talked last November, you didn't use the word retirement. You specifically told me you weren't using the word retirement because you weren't sure the future was going to hold. But you said at that point, you're pretty good with not fighting. So what changed? What led you to this decision to want to fight again? I wanted time to do things I haven't been able to do and travel and not have any barriers of training camps and all these things.

And so just getting around, traveling, doing a lot. You know, I've been doing a bit, getting out to Montana, getting out to places that aren't so crowded, a little more free wheeling, to say the least. And just, you know, enjoying life, doing things traveling, the things I couldn't, I wasn't able to do. Letting my body heal up, too. I mean, I was compromising myself so much, you know, the last few years. And so, you know, I opted to get a shoulder surgery. fix my labrum, my rotator cuff that was kind of nagging at me for a while

and, um, and then, uh, you know, the world's, like I said, the world's fucking boring. I need some more, I need some more excitement.

I mean, it kind of really comes down to that. At least, I mean, options are limited and, I do miss fighting. Fighting is, it's,

uh, it's a part of me. And I still have a lot left in me. and the world's fucking boring and I need something more Is it, you know, when you were, you know, when you were taking time off, you know, and you were kind of doing some other things

at that point, your head wasn't, you just weren't into fighting at that point. Is it one of those situations where, I know it's cheesy to say, but time heals all wounds? Like, you just need time away to kind of, you know, kind of get your, just do something else. Was that fair to say? Yeah, do whatever I wanted.

Get back to California, you know, get the West Coast air in me. You know, Florida was a great training situation, but living there full-time, it's just not me. And so coming back to the West Coast and traveling around and just being able to do what I wanted, I'm sure at the time, time definitely does heal all wounds. Yeah. Do you, would you say you missed it? Like, did you miss fighting at that point? like in terms of like what this last year has been for you or is it is that not is that not the right thing to say you miss it because you didn't want to fight you know what I mean like

you weren't in the mood to fight at that point so I don't know how much you missed it or not yeah I mean I'm just it's just the struggle of weight of balancing of which weight class you know it's like it's hard for me to make 85 and then going up to two of five it you know it's a process going up too so it's just you know being comfortable there being comfortable with not fucking fighting I've been 15 years of and continually fighting fighting the best guys in the world, it's a, it's a lot on your shoulders. And, and so it's just nice to get away and focus on other things. And, you know, there will be, there will be a life after fighting. And so, you know, aligning myself with certain things that make me happy

outside. So there's a lot, a lot that goes into it. Yeah. Now, you mentioned to me when we talked last November, you have put your bodies through a lot in fighting because you've been fighting for so long never really had a break and the breaks you had were generally because injuries like you were coming back from like the shin injury and things like that uh this last basically 10 months since we spoke in in november and you went to the shoulder surgery like how is your body feeling right now like do you feel rejuvenated you just feel healthier after some time off uh yeah you know i mean i'm getting there um my shoulders coming around i opted to do this shoulder surgery had an opportunity to get that done in COVID and so um I'm coming

around that and and everything else is feeling pretty good you know just just letting the hands and the wrists and everything not all that impact of continually punching and cracking and missing you know this was the unaligned shot so it's uh it's nice nice everything's coming back together and uh and it's motivating you know seeing the current climate of what's what's going on out there and i think uh i think it needs i need a little need to push need some excitement it's Yeah. Now, obviously, I read that you're going to be coming back as a middleweight. You only had the one-fighted light heavyweight, but I know middle-weight's not an easy cut. It's never been a fun time to cut to 185. But what was the idea, you know, coming back,

did you just feel like that's where you're going to be at your best, where you're going to make the most impact? Like, what is the idea, in terms of your mind coming back at middle-weight? I mean, that's where I feel the most comfortable. I think I tried too hard. You know, I'm undersized. I really have to, like, work. to put muscle on to stay at 220. I mean, even if I get to 220, if, you know, that's at my biggest. Typically, I'm walking around at 210, 215.

You know, when I'm eating healthy and training, 215 in my mat, really, it's hard for me to get above 215. And those guys are bigger, and it's processed. I don't know. But at the same time, I don't like cutting all that weight. It could be, you know, it's not 100% sure I'm going out of 8.5. I'm just going to get healthy, get in the gym. them eat right and see where my body wants to go.

Typically, I think I'm better suited for middleweight. Yeah. When you look at the, when you look at what you've done throughout your career, I mean, even when you left the middleweight division, you were still ranked in that, you know, top two or three in the world. And again, the landscape changes a little bit. How much have you paid attention to the UFC or to your division or defying that much in the past, you know, 10 months as you've kind of been on your own doing your own thing,

not necessarily focusing on fighting? There's not much else to focus on. So when a fight comes on, it's nice. It's refreshing to be able to watch something live. That's the only thing live going on right now. I'm paying attention. I see a couple of the guys coming along. Obviously, I saw Chris fight the end of the night.

It looked horrible. I saw Killing and Whitaker. You know, they looked okay. Killed coming up. He looks soft. but he seems to do okay, but Whitaker just doesn't look like he's got that fire that he once had, so it's hard to judge.

Amaranton looks like a fucking, the kid, the kid's coming along nicely. He's working his way through. So, I mean, obviously Israel is doing his thing. I'm paying attention to a few of the guys that I think are credible enough to make me want to fight. Yeah. Do you feel like this is the time,

not to make it sound cocky or anything, Luke, but obviously, you know, where you've been in this, sport and what you've done in this sport. Do you feel like now is the time when that division needs a guy like you. Like we need a Luke Rockhold of the middleweight division right now. Like you're a guy who will inject some life and some excitement in the division right now. I feel being healthy and with a clear mind with all that with nothing on my shoulders, I'm a problem for every one of these guys. Yeah. In terms of, I mean, you're just now saying, you know, you want to fight again.

I don't want to, I don't want to heap a bunch of expectations on your your shoulders or anything, but because you've been a champion, you know, his strike force has been a champion in the UFC. What is the mindset coming back? Is it to fight and have fun fighting? Is it to fight and make money? Is it to fight and work your way back to title contention? Is it all of those?

Like, what is the idea when you come back? Just to fight. Just to fight and enjoy fighting. You know, I'm not done. I don't feel like I'm done. I feel like I have a lot more in me. And, you know, when I'm... I enjoy fighting.

When I'm in the gym, I'm still the best motherfucker there. So it's about fighting, stepping into that cage of the clear head and healthy body and taking out whoever was in front of me. Yeah. Did you, as you've been back in California,

I saw that awesome post that Daniel Cormié made before his fight come up a steep. Did you work with D.C. at all? Like, have you been back in the gym with those guys? Yeah, I spent I spent a couple weeks up there. I spent the last two weeks up in D.C.

And got to see where his head's at and kind of push him and see where all the guys, you know, all the guys at A.K. I mean, not really at A.K. I mean, it was at Daniel's at Daniel's for training, but it was cool. Me and Daniel had finished a nice gym in his house unknowingly that COVID was going to hit. And thankfully, so good to catch up with all the guys up there and to push Daniel through this thing. And, you know, I want to make sure he's in the right, you know, find space for this fight, because that's really what this fight comes down to.

Yeah. You, you know, when you were down in Florida working with Henry Hooped and the guys down there, even when you were a part of that team, you always, you know, you always knew you could go back and obviously you consider guys like D.C. and Kane and those guys, you know, family, you know, you can always go back there and train again. But did it feel good kind of working with those guys again? And just, I don't know. You tell me, because I know how close you guys, especially you in D.C.,

Because I know you were like a huge, you know, a huge help for him and pretty much all of his major fights in the UFC up until just recently you were a huge part of his camp. Did it feel good just to kind of work with those guys again? Yeah, of course. You know, I feel like I've never really left. You know, even in the middle of training camps, we'd be talking and going back and forth on either one of our training camps

that we weren't there for. There was never a lack of communication to me in D.C., but it felt great. It feels so good to get around, you know, Crazy Bob, Daniel, myself, Kane, everybody, me, you know, me, me, can't mean a D.C. and Crazy Bob. Cassandra, we all live together, you know, it's like, it's like a family affair. We've been through a lot together, you know, the lowest, the lows and the highest of the highs. And it came coming from nothing. So it's a, it's a unity like, like none other.

Yeah. I know you're just now, you know, planning this comeback, you know, getting your body healthy. I know you talked about maybe fighting before the end of the year, beginning of next year. Do you know where you'll train? Have you made that decision yet in terms of when you're coming back? You know, I think for me, the best thing, I'm a bit of a gypsy myself, and so I like change. I like mixing it up, and I'm not going to put a stamp on where I'm going to train, but I envision kind of bouncing around. Yeah.

It's good to have options, right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I know a lot of guys who are guys who will maybe do a little bit of a camp at Jackson's and then maybe they'll do something in California. I know you like to travel. Like, is it a bad thing just to get the best of all worlds? I don't think it's a bad thing at all. I think it's great to kind of mix it up.

Refresh your memory, refresh your mind, obviously. Given the times of COVID, you know, it might be a little more restricted, but as long as you play it safe, I think it's a great to use. to be able to get different looks from different camps and refresh your mind, you know, but jump around a bit. Yeah. Now, a lot has been made, you know, in your comeback,

because, again, everyone's going to be interested who you're going to fight, Luke. Everyone's going to say, oh, what about this or what about that? And there's a lot of fresh matchups out there for you. I know you mentioned Derritil, Jack Ramanson, but a lot of people keep bringing up the Wydeman fight. Now, I don't have a problem with that fight by any stretching imagination. But, like, is there actually a desire to revisit that,

Or would that be more about like appeasing like a fan appeal to because I mean obviously you won the first fight. It's been years. I mean, is there a part of you that says I want something fresh? I want something new like a like a Darren Till or a Jack Robinson or is there some part of you that does have a desire to kind of close that chapter with a Chris Wydeman? You know, here's a thing. Weidman's always run his mouth and he's always like, you know, said that he was beat me or he would beat me or this and that, you know. So when you beat somebody, there's nothing worse than the guy that fucking still ruins his mouth. So, you know, for me, I'm the type of guy that likes to shut people up.

So that's definitely on my radar. I think it'd be a good way to come back and do my thing and just make some noise. Otherwise, you know, I definitely, I'm not open to something new, too, at the same time. I'm just, Darren Till looks like a fun fight, especially if they'd open up the O2 Arena. you know these fights aren't that exciting fighting in las Vegas is no crowd whatsoever it just it doesn't get me up doesn't get my blood pumping you know uh abadabi maybe a little better I mean it's a little more interesting for me

it's a little more complicated too but but uh but yeah I want a fucking arena I want fans I want a few things come back to life so we'll see we'll see I mean hopefully hopefully we can get a vaccine we can get some change in the next in the coming months. Yeah. Is there a party that almost feels like I know you said into this year early next year for your return? Is there kind of part of that maybe thinking, you know, wait a little bit longer? Maybe you can get a fan, you know, get some fans of the fight because I know they're doing a little bit. We've seen it with like soccer matches. We've seen it here and there. And there's going to be some places opening up, maybe overseas.

Like, is there a party that feels like maybe that would be the perfect way to come back? Like maybe with the first shows with crowds? I wouldn't, I wouldn't hate that. I wouldn't hate that one bit. That sounds very appealing. Yeah. And so that's, I mean, I'm not going to hold to that, but, you know, I'm just going to get healthy. I'm going to get my body right, and I'm going to go forward when the time's right. Yeah. Have you, have you talked to the UFC yet?

Has your management talked to the UFC yet in terms of anything? Or is this just kind of like you're just kind of putting things out now and you'll decide when you actually want to fight later? I mean, they're always interested. They're always asking. So, but at the same time, you know, you've got to be healthy and ready to go, ready to sign a contract. And you can't sign a contract when you have any liabilities in the body. So until I'm 100% clear, we won't be pressing that trigger yet. Yeah.

Well, do you, in terms of like your help, is there like a timeline, like when you feel you'll be at that route? I know you mentioned end of the year early next year. So is that kind of the idea, like another month or two and then, you know, maybe October and November start looking at fights? Uh, you know, I would, I don't know if I go that far. I think, I think I need another, maybe October, yeah, maybe in the September. I'd say another month, and I'll have a lot more solid viewpoint of my timeline, my return. Yeah. Because you were, you, and I know you specifically said, you never, you never used the word

retirement for that specific reason. Uh, you never, you never dropped out of the USADA program or anything, did you? You still been tested this entire time, haven't you? Yeah. Yeah. So I know that's one obstacle they throw in when you drop out of that. You have to go through a bunch of testing. So you don't have to worry about that part of it least.

No, I'm cleared to go. Well, Luke, I tell you what, man. I'm glad you're back. You know, obviously getting the mind ride, getting some time off, and just kind of taking a break from things. I mean, I don't want to say burnout. Maybe that's the wrong word. But like anything else, man, when you do it long enough and you go through it

and the body goes through the rigors of it, man, just need a break. Like, it's almost like you need to, you need to, you know, You need a little extra time off, just get you, just kind of find where you want to fight again, right? Like, I don't know a better way to put it. Yeah, I mean, people burn out in many other sports, you know. Michael, it's like fighting, try fighting. People play basketball, they burn out.

People go surfing, they burn out. Try fighting. Try fighting the best guys in the world every day in the gym. You're going to fucking burn out. I mean, people's bandwidth from there should be a lot shorter. in any other realm. So I've been doing it much longer than most anybody else, you know, still in this game.

So, you know, at the highest level. So it feels good. It feels good to take a break, and I don't know. It's going to feel good to come back to kick some of us. We'll do it once right. Yeah. Well, I mean it when I said, man. The Middle-A division needs you.

The UFC needs you. I think the UFC's a better place when you're around. So I'm glad you're coming back, Luke. I appreciate you taking the time. I'm sure we'll chat once the fight gets booked. But, man, I'm glad you're back, and I appreciate you doing this. Right on, dude.

All right. Talk to you soon, man. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.