Rockhold eyeing Whittaker, Romero for next fight
Luke Rockhold is doing his damnedest to get back in the saddle.
The former UFC middleweight champion has seen his pursuit of Fabricio Werdum and Anderson Silva go for naught, but with fellow contender Robert Whittaker earning a statement win over Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza last week, Rockhold now fancies the idea of testing his recovered knee in a date with the surging 26-year-old.
"How about Bobby Knuckles. Boy is looking good. You Aussies got something to believe in right now. He's looking fresh, looking tight, and I think we make a lot of sense right now," Rockhold recently told "Submission Radio," according to MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew. "The kid wants to get his title shot; there's a long list of guys in line right now and I'm looking to get back at it so I don't see anything better. I appreciate the competition. I like what the kid's done and I want to test him, I want to test myself and get back at it."
Rockhold is angling for a fight that would bring him closer to a shot at regaining the strap he lost to Michael Bisping last June, as Werdum isn't interested in a grudge match, Silva would rather face a fighter coming off a win, and the top-ranked Yoel Romero is patiently waiting for Bisping to meet Georges St-Pierre later this year, which leaves him few potential takers other than Whittaker.
"I've been looking for a fight between all these guys. I'm not necessarily calling him out, we're running out of opponents. Anderson Silva declined to fight. Other guys are out of the mix. Yoel's waiting for an interim title or the real title. I need to re-establish myself and he looked good ..."
Should Whittaker end up sharing the cage with another contender, the former champ hopes Romero will reach his wit's end and agree to meet him in an interim title bout. The Cuban won't leave the couch for anything less than a shot at UFC gold, and with Rockhold sitting just one spot below him in the rankings, the California native is game to meet him halfway, assuming the winner is guaranteed a title unification bout.
"Romero wants that interim title, I know that for a fact, and he's not going to fight anybody else, so if that comes to be, I'd gladly fight Yoel. That's one and two. One and two should fight for it, if that's the case. The champion should fight one but if one and two are fighting, it should be an interim title, a guarantee that we're gonna fight for the title next."