Alexander Gustafsson fires back at ‘chinny’ Luke Rockhold, willing to wait for matchup

Something is brewing between former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and light heavyweight mainstay Alexander Gustafsson and fight fans are eating it up.

It all started when Rockhold announced his plans to move up in weight last month. Gustafsson, who is currently in limbo at 205 pounds as current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier takes his shot at heavyweight king Stipe Miocic this summer, wasted little time proposing a potential showdown between the two stars. Rockhold responded by telling “Mauler” that he’s “coming for that ass.”

Now, Gustafsson is on the prowl again, recently sending the following message to Rockhold via Twitter:

Considering Gustafsson is already waiting around for “DC,” fighting Cormier’s teammate may be the next best thing. Rockhold is an extremely gifted fighter, evident by his track record at 185 pounds, but he has had trouble pushing through damage in his recent Octagon appearances. Not only was Rockhold knocked out by Michael Bisping at UFC 199 in 2016 and then by Yoel Romero at UFC 221 this past February, but he was badly hurt against David Branch at UFC Fight Night 116 before pulling off the submission win.

Only time will tell if UFC is willing to throw Rockhold to the wolves and gives him Gustafsson in his first bout at 205 pounds, but it’s a pretty good matchup considering the lack of depth at light heavyweight. Of course, a fight between the feuding UFC stars would essentially put Rockhold’s trilogy bout with Bisping on ice.