According to Luke Rockhold, Khamzat Chimaev declined to fight him in the UFC.
Rockhold (16-6) claims that upon returning to the octagon from a three-year layoff, he was offered Chimaev, but the unbeaten middleweight turned him down. Rockhold ended up coming back to face Paulo Costa at UFC 278, losing the bloody, back-and-forth battle by unanimous decision.
The former UFC middleweight champion hasn’t competed in MMA since, but was just drafted to the Global Fight League as part of Team Dubai. Despite his new home, Rockhold doesn’t rule out a UFC return.
“I like all the matchups (in the UFC), so you never know,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “I’m still fighting. I still feel good. I’m still getting in the game. But first things first, we’ve got (Chris) Weidman, we’ve got Gegard (Mousasi), we’ve got some fun fights (in the GFL).
“Khamzat turned down a fight against me. When I was supposed to come back, my first fight back before Paulo Costa, they tried to book that fight and he didn’t want to play. I said yes.”
Being part of the GFL will allow Rockhold to settle various unfinished business from the UFC.
“There’s some fights I’m really interested in,” Rockhold said. “Obviously Mousasi is out there, I know he mentioned it. That’s a fight that I’ve always been interested in. So competitive fights, fun fights, big fights – it piques my interest.”
