Luke
Rockhold will make his return from a lengthy hiatus against
Sean
Strickland in a middleweight bout at UFC 268.
UFC broadcast partner ESPN
confirmed the booking following an initial report from
TSN. Both Rockhold and Strickland have verbally agreed to the
bout. UFC 268 is expected to take place at Madison Square Garden in
New York on Nov. 6 and is headlined by a welterweight championship
rematch between Kamaru
Usman and Colby
Covington.
Rockhold will fight for the first time since a move to 205 pound
resulted in a second-round knockout loss to Jan
Blachowicz at UFC 239 on July 6, 2019. The 36-year-old American
Kickboxing Academy product is a former UFC and Strikeforce
middleweight champion but has lost three of his last four
appearances. Rockhold owns notable wins over the likes of Chris
Weidman, Lyoto
Machida, Michael
Bisping, Ronaldo
Souza, Tim Kennedy
and Keith
Jardine.
Strickland, meanwhile, is coming off a decisive five-round victory
over Uriah Hall in
the UFC on ESPN 28 headliner. The 30-year-old Team Quest
representative is currently on a five-bout winning streak within
the Las Vegas-based promotion.