When a fighter retires, even their opponents have some kind words of goodbye, but Sean Strickland is not most fighters.
Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold announced his retirement after losing to Paul Costa at UFC 278. “I can’t do this anymore,” the 37-year-old told commentator Joe Rogan after the loss. In 2011, when he won the Strikeforce middleweight title. He was beaten by Vitor Belfort on his Octagon debut, but ended a five-game winning streak by defeating Chris Weidman for the UFC belt in December 2015.
He was knocked out by Michael Bisping in his first defending title and never got a foothold at the top of the league. His loss to Costa was Rockhold’s first match since July 2019.
Strickland is happy to see Rockhold withdraw from the sport, but perhaps not for the reasons one might imagine.
“I’m really glad he’s retired,” Strickland told The Schmo. “You don’t meet a guy who meets Luke Rockhold and says, ‘Man, this is a tough guy. I want to hang out with him. Luke Rockhold is Definition of a nervous c*nt, and I’m glad I didn’t have to hear his name or see him in the MMA community.”
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