Former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold made his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships debut at BKFC 41 this past April, suffering a second round TKO loss to UFC veteran Mike Perry.
It looks like it is a one and done for Rockhold’s BKFC career, as BKFC President David Feldman says Rockhold most likely won’t be back in the promotion.
“We have an option on a second fight with him, but we’re not going to exercise it,” Feldman told MMA Junkie. “We don’t want to. I certainly don’t want to, and I don’t know if he wants to after getting his teeth knocked out. This sport’s different. It’s not built for everybody, and we want someone that, if he does get his tooth knocked out – for instance, Britain Hart and Bec Rawlings, two women in our organization got their teeth knocked out and kept fighting and made it the distance. So he just doesn’t have that type of ‘it’ for BKFC that we needed, so we’re not going to exercise our right.”
Rockhold found much more success as a professional MMA fighter, where he holds a 16-6-0 record, plus is a former UFC and Strikeforce Middleweight Champion.
Feldman has a lot of praise for Rockhold, but doesn’t think Rockhold has a future as a bare knuckle fighter.
“Good guy, great fighter, great accolades, did so many things in MMA, a legend,” Feldman said. “I mean, awesome. Not taking anything away from his fighting ability, but I don’t think he’s a bareknuckle fighter.”