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Chael Sonnen believes that Luke Rockhold might be better off looking to revisit his canceled fight against Sean Strickland.
The former middleweight champion has been out of action since his KO loss against Jan Blachowicz in 2019. Rockhold was expected to face Sean Strickland at UFC 268 but was forced to withdraw due to an injury.
Interestingly, the AKA product recently expressed his disdain for Paulo Costa and affirmed his desire to face the Brazilian when he returns to the octagon.
However, Sonnen believes that Rockhold would stand to gain more from taking on Strickland rather than Costa. In a video posted to his YouTube channel, 'The American Gangster' said:
"Luke Rockhold was supposed to be fighting at Madison Square Garden opposite Sean Strickland. That was a big fight. That was the fight that makes one of them a number-one contender. And whether they officially get the nod or not. There's two or three fights in the division at all times. That would be one of them."
Sonnen also touched on how both Strickland and Rockhold would've benefited from a win:
"Sean Strickland who's won seven straight at that point gets the jump on a former world champion, it might be enough to put him over. Rockhold can be the one to stop crazy Sean in front of everybody at the garden and remind people, 'I'm back!' When a guy who couldn't make that date returns, you try to pick up where you left off. But Luke went in a different direction... I would assume Luke would go after Sean."
Check out Sonnen's comments on Rockhold's next move:
Luke Rockhold has been on a slide in his last few fights
Luke Rockhold jumped over to the UFC as the last middleweight champion in Strikeforce history. He lost his fight in the world's biggest MMA promotion to Vitor Belfort via first-round KO. The California native rebounded and went on a four-fight winning streak before he dethroned the undefeated Chris Weidman.
The two were set to have a rematch at UFC 199 but Michael Bisping stepped in for Weidman on short notice and knocked out Rockhold to win the middleweight title. Since then, the 37-year-old has lost two of his last three fights by KO.
Watch Rockhold's crowning moment against Weidman:
Although Rockhold remains an immensely skilled fighter, returning from a lengthy layoff to take on either Costa or Strickland could prove to be a tall order.
