Morning Report: Luke Rockhold blasts ‘fake’ Sean Strickland for his performance at UFC 312

Luke Rockhold doesn’t have a lot of respect for Sean Strickland.

This past Saturday, Strickland fell short in his bid to reclaim the UFC middleweight title, losing a wide unanimous decision to Dricus du Plessis in their rematch at UFC 312. Strickland enjoyed almost none of the success he had in his first bout with du Plessis and even suffered a bad nose break in the fourth round. That stood in stark contrast to Strickland’s promises beforehand to “fight to the f*cking death.” And Rockhold has no patience for it.

“If someone breaks your nose, you’ve got to fight like a f*cking man and sack up,” Rockhold told Ariel Helwani. “We all watched the fight, and we all heard the guy talk about, ‘To the death, Dutchman! To the death!’ This motherf*cker talks such a big game and then he bitches out and basically quits in the fight after he breaks his nose. What are you worried about? You have a title fight. A world title is on the line. That’s all you want, that’s all you dreamed of, and you’re more worried about fixing your f*cking nose than f*cking winning and biting down on your mouthpiece and doing what you’ve got to do. It shows your true character. That’s what the cage is all about. …

“When has he ever f*cking put his ass on the line and f*cking bit down and really went for it through the whole process of a fight, not just the last 10 seconds of a round? The guy is nonstop — he’s not finishing any big fights, I’ll tell you that. Look at him out there, talking. Just talking …

“I’m just tired of fake people. You just see everything that he presents himself as, which he is not. It’s pretty simple.”

Rockhold is not the only fighter to take issue with Strickland’s performance. Several MMA luminaries have let the former middleweight champion have it following UFC 312, and as a man who has had to take his own lumps in this manner, Rockhold firmly believes this backlash is warranted.

“You’ve got to show up and lay claim to your words,” Rockhold said. “If you don’t you eat a lot of shit. Trust me, I’ve got my fair share of shit. We all say things. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out the best way possible, but you assume — certain things you say, you’ve got to try to do. And then there’s other versions that don’t come so true.”

Rockhold has a bit of personal history with Strickland, as the two crossed paths a few times at the RVCA gym several years ago. Rockhold recounted how he never much cared for Strickland but did allow that he is an elite fighter. Even still, Rockhold believes we’ve seen the last of Strickland as a title contender.

“Sean will never make it back to anything of substance,” Rockhold said. “He proved it. He just wants to exist. He wants to exist at the top and be part of the show. That’s all he wants to do, from what I see.”

Review. Dissecting the biggest stories coming out of UFC 312.

Poatan. Daniel Cormier reveals Alex Pereira’s reaction to Dricus du Plessis callout at UFC 312: ‘This man is just too small.’

Beef. Belal Muhammad rips Sean Strickland after UFC 312 loss: ‘He’s a coward, and it shows in his fights.’

Belts. Joe Rogan stumps for Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev next: ‘I don’t care if he only defended the title one time.’

Injury. Brandon Royval explains what forced him out of Manel Kape main event in March.

$$$. Jeremy Stephens hopeful BKFC steps up now that he’s a free agent but ‘I want a big f*cking bag.’

Mailbag. UFC 312 mailbag: Where does Dricus du Plessis rank all-time at 185 and where does Zhang Weili go from here?

Justin Gaethje fight camp.

Greatest fights from The Ultimate Fighter.

Free fight.

Morning Kombat.

On To The Next One.

Henry Cejudo breaks down the UFC 312 main event.

Quinton Jackson addresses the Bryce Mitchell podcast.

Nate better watch out. Kendrick don’t mess around.

The lesson we all need to learn.

People still doubt.

Jiri in paradise.

A thread from Matt Brown on his journey.

People are really coming out of the woodwork to trash Sean Strickland, and I get it, he talked the talk and didn’t walk the walk. But Strickland surviving that busted nose impressed the hell out of me. The rest, not so much, but that thing was jacked up and he just put it back in place and kept fighting. That’s pretty tough.

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