A former UFC champion is set to step inside the ropes for the first time next month.
Since his final appearance inside the Octagon in 2022, Luke Rockhold has competed in several different promotions and rulesets.
He’s produced a stunning knockout in Karate Combat and has been on the wrong end of a trademark Mike Perry performance in BKFC.
For his next post-UFC venture, Rockhold will face Darren Till in a professional boxing bout at Misfits’ ‘Ring of Thrones’ event on August 30.
Some early tension between Rockhold and Till confirms that fans are in for an exciting clash of personalities, though the former champion was previously offered a different name.
Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesLuke Rockhold says he turned down a fight with Viddal Riley on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard
Luke Rockhold’s boxing debut taking place against Darren Till makes sense many reasons, with both men being former UFC fighters who have taken different paths.
Importantly for Rockhold, he’s confident that he has the right amount of time to prepare correctly so that he can show what he’s been working on, which wouldn’t have been the case with the original offer he received for a boxing match.
The former UFC middleweight champion told MMA Fighting in a recent interview that he could’ve originally fought at a historic event last November, which Till was also scheduled to be on until the date was moved.
“I had an opportunity to fight on the Jake Paul [and Mike] Tyson card. I’ve been talking to Misfits about boxing, I’ve always wanted to box… It was like a six week deal before the Tyson Paul fight and I just wasn’t in shape, wasn’t ready.”
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
After a follow-up question, Rockhold revealed that the opponent he was offered was the 13-0 Viddal Riley.
While Riley is also a big name thanks to his social media following and friendships with the likes of KSI, he’s also a legitimate boxer who won the British cruiserweight title on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr.’s clash with Conor Benn several months ago.
“I was coming off like a bad back injury, but it was, I think it was a guy, a boxer, a good guy,” Rockhold recalled. “I think his name was Viddal Riley, something like that. He was pretty decent. For me to be like injured and not have any training camp, I’m not gonna walk in there like that.”
Luke Rockhold doesn’t see the point in returning to MMA unless he’s offering something big
Up until earlier this year, it looked like Luke Rockhold might be returning to MMA after he signed to the GFL last November.
The promotion’s very first announced matchup saw him paired with another former UFC champion Chris Weidman in a rematch of their UFC 194 encounter.
GFL’s run of events was later cancelled, with Rockhold telling MMA Fighting that he never thought it would actually happen.
The 40-year-old added that at this stage in his career, with the fight he has coming up next, he doesn’t see an MMA return happening anytime soon.
“We all know what’s on the table. You beat a guy like Darren, you put yourself in the running for the big fights. There’s big, big, big fights right here. To pass up those big fights [if I] win this, it’s like why the f— would I go back to MMA? There’d have to be a big opportunity and a big reason. There’d have to be title implications and big money.”