Luke Rockhold was surprised to find himself in Jake Paul’s crosshairs during UFC 278.
The former UFC champion middleweight was praised for his heroic effort against Paulo Costa, which ultimately ended up being Rockhold’s retirement bout. Despite losing his return from a three-year layoff, Rockhold showed tremendous heart in the back-and-forth battle and gave the MMA world a swan song to remember. Paul wasn’t impressed and deemed the performance “dog . He then went on a long Twitter rant ..
Rockhold replied to the exchange in Wednesday’s episode The MMA Hour .
” I don’t think that idiots are really relevant. Rockhold stated, “I’m tired doing that.”
” I felt the child had more head to his shoulders and was better at the sport [of MMA]. Like you said, it was cool — I’ve seen him stand up for respect for the sport. The hate got to him, making him insecure and insecure. He tried to distract me from this because my altitude had affected my heart. You’re handicapped fighting, motherf . So don’t talk. You’re meeting guys who are much smaller than yourself, and they’re enjoying everything that you do. You don’t have to open your mouth around me, I doubt I ever did. You just don’t f****** understand what fighting is. If you think of fighting, then you have to consider dying.
“Boxing is boxing. Putting these f****** puffy little pads on your hands and all you’ve got to worry about their f****** hands. Think about elbows, think about knees, think about grappling, think about kicks, think about f****** every goddamn thing you could think about. Put you in a state of reality, which you’ve lost touch with.”
Rockhold is one of the greatest middleweights in history. 37, was also a decorated fighter. He won titles in Strikeforce as well as the UFC and has notable wins over Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman. He is also one of the few big-name UFC fighters to use his platform to push for better working conditions within the UFC — Rockhold spent the majority of UFC 278 fight week speaking openly about the need for increased UFC pay, better health care, and other similar issues.
Paul has championed many of the same causes in his crusade against UFC president Dana White, so it was a surprise for some to see the YouTuber come after Rockhold.
” The reality of modern times — people like him, he thinks that he’s like an f [Muhammad] Al,” Rockhold stated of Paul.
“Shut the f*** up. Go back in your f****** hole before I f****** smack the s*** out of you.”
Paul (5-0 boxing) is undefeated in his own brief combat sports career and has generated interest in himself with bouts against former MMA champs Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.
Rockhold, however, is content in his retirement. Despite the back-and-forth, he’s not interested in pursuing the Paul drama any further than it’s already gotten.
“Not really, no. I’ve got my plans,” Rockhold said when asked about potentially fighting Paul.
“I don’t need it. It doesn’t matter if I give relevancy to some f ****** stupid kid .”
