Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will be returning to the Octagon for the first time in over two years as he meets Sean Strickland at UFC 268.
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold finally has a dance partner. ESPN reports that Rockhold and middleweight contender Sean Strickland have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 268 on November 6. The news comes after TSN’s Aaron Bronstetter reported that the bout had been offered to Rockhold.
Luke Rockhold will face Sean Strickland in a middleweight bout at UFC 268 on Nov. 6, sources confirmed to @bokamotoESPN after an initial report by Aaron Bronsteter.
Rockhold has not fought since his loss to Jan Blachowicz in July of 2019. pic.twitter.com/AG2vTXyp2e
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 4, 2021
Rockhold (16-5) has not fought since losing a light-heavyweight bout against future champion Jan Blachowicz in 2019. Prior to the bout, injuries had kept him from maintaining a consistent schedule as it had been more than a year since he’d lost an interim title shot to Yoel Romero. Rockhold won the UFC middleweight championship back in 2015 after putting together a four fight win-streak.
Strickland is on a five fight win-streak and is coming off a career-best victory against ranked contender Uriah Hall this past Saturday. After a motorcycle accident in 2018 halted his career, he returned in 2020 as a middleweight where he has defeated names such as Brendan Allen, Jack Marshman, and Krzysztof Jotko.
UFC 268 is tentatively being targeted for the UFC’s return to New York in Madison Square Garden on November 06. The card is set to be headlined by the welterweight title rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington and is bolstered by a high profile lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
