‘I Thought He Would Fight Anyone’- Luke Rockhold Reveals that Khamzat Chimaev Turned Down a Fight Against Him

MMA reporter Ariel Helwani provided some interesting insight about the landscape of the middleweight division in his latest post. He revealed that former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold accepted a fight against ‘2020 Breakout Fight of the Year’ Khamzat Chimaev. The fight was offered to Rockhold for August 28 and he is on record for having accepted the bout.

However, Luke Rockhold learned that ‘Borz’ had turned down a fight against him as he wanted to continue his career at welterweight.

This move came as surprise to Rockhold as Chimaev has built his name off the ‘Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere’ utterance. Rockhold provided a brief statement on the news that Chimaev turned down a scrap.

“All Respect but I thought he would fight anyone”, said the former UFC and Strikeforce champion.

Rockhold is looking to make a return by the end of Summer, but it’s not going to be against ‘Borz’. In fact, Chimaev also reportedly turned down a scrap against Rockhold on August 7 which was a 3-round contest. It will be interesting to see if the fan perception of Khamzat Chimaev changes after the recent news.

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Luke Rockhold: On the comeback trail

Rockhold is 1-3 in his last four outings and has suffered two straight KO defeats in his previous outings. However, he’s exclusively faced the very best fighters on the roster and his losses only tell half the story. Not to mention, he’s been a part of the title picture for virtually his entire UFC run and is always in the mix.

The 16-5 fighter wants a top contender for his comeback bout as he believes he’s ready to re-enter the mix. Rockhold has had large stints of inactivity and his ability to replicate his early career success despite breaks will be a large talking point.

Fans want to see Luke Rockhold make a comeback as he’s got a fighting style that could be challenging for Israel Adesanya. He’s considered one of the best ground and pound practitioners in MMA and can easily pose problems for any middleweight. However, he’ll have to rattle off a couple of decisive wins in order to enter the title picture.

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