Former UFC dual champion appealed to Luke Rockhold, who previously claimed to come out of retirement if Alex Pereira defeats Israel Adesanya, to not return.
The former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold announced his retirement from the UFC right after displaying a stunning show inside the cage against Paulo Costa at UFC 278.
Although Rockhold lost the bout on the judges’ card, he showed the heart of a warrior and put a war against the Brazilian. Consequently, the former champion gained the respect of many fans.
However, the Californian recently claimed that he will return to the UFC cage only if surging middleweight prospect Alex Pereira dethrones Israel Adesanya in their upcoming title fight.
But Rockhold’s close friend and UFC Hall of Famer, Daniel Cormier doesn’t agree with the idea. He requested the former middleweight champion to stay retired after such an amazing last performance.
“Luke, don’t come back. It’s only been a few weeks, and it was absolutely perfect. It couldn’t be better. Because Luke Rockhold has been the guy that has not been loved, but in that performance, he gained the praise of the masses,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel.
“Not only did he gain the praise of the masses, though, he gained the praise of his opponent in the competition. Paulo Costa came up to me a week later and told me how special it was to share the Octagon with Luke,” Cormier added.
Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira- the middleweight war
Despite defending his title for the fifth time at UFC 276, Israel Adesanya was called out by many for a lackluster show inside the cage. However, he hyped them with a call out to Alex Pereira.
The new middleweight warrior Alex Pereira, who entered Adesanya’s ground in 2021, has a history with the champion. ‘Poatan’ is the only fighter in the combat world who has knocked out ‘The Last Stylebender’ during their kickboxing days.
In fact, the Brazilian has defeated him twice. Thus, fight fans want to see them run it for the third time. But this time in an MMA cage. Izzy has been dominating the roster since his debut and has defeated almost every top 185lbs fighter.
Hence, it is not a walk in the park to face the champion. However, ‘Poatan’ has earned the respect of many UFC fans with his back-to-back knockout wins. He is 3-0 in the UFC. Thus, many believe he could be an antidote to Izzy’s invincibility at 185lbs.
What are your thoughts on this fight? Do you think Pereira will have a third win against Izzy?
