Former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, kept his combat sports career afloat after parting ways with Dana White and Co. by hooking up with fellow UFC veteran Mike Perry under the BKFC banner. Unfortunately, Rockhold’s inability to make the necessary adjustments in his new arena led to a painful loss in his bareknuckle boxing debut.
As well as a mouthful of smashed teeth.
“Bareknuckle boxing is not a fight,” Rockhold told MMA Fighting. “I realized, I’m not losing my f*cking teeth without using
everything I’ve worked for my whole life. People are f*cking dumb. That’s a dumbass sport. Metal [ropes] that you just hit, and they throw you back into the brawl. There’s no way to gauge that distance, and it’s like who’s willing to lose their face first for f*cking nothing.”
Rockhold, 40, will once again give up his advantages in kicking and grappling for a straight-up boxing match (with gloves) against former UFC middleweight Darren Till. They’ll co-headline the upcoming Misfits Boxing 22: “Ring of Thrones” pay-per-view (PPV) card on DAZN on Sat., Aug. 30, 2025 at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
The ex-Strikeforce champ insists “this is different.”
“It couldn’t be any worse than bareknuckle boxing,” Rockhold argued. “I’m pretty sure I hamstringed myself as hard as you can. This is different. I feel like my boxing has come a long way. No one has really seen it, for me to put the shoes on, get in the ring, get that dance, get that movement. F*ck, I can do it. I can do it with the best of the game, and I’m hurting people left and right at the gym. I don’t expect it to be any different.”
For more on the upcoming Misfits 22 boxing event click here.
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