Luke Rockhold isn’t surprised.
The former UFC middleweight champ has been at odds with Jake Paul since the YouTuber-turned-boxer criticized his performance against Paulo Costa this past August at UFC 278, to the point where Rockhold openly challenged Paul and his brother Logan Paul to a fight following his UFC exit. Speaking to MMA Fighting in January, Rockhold criticized Paul’s level of opposition as well as his performance against Anderson Silva, and expressed doubt as to whether Paul’s interest in MMA was anything more than an attention-grabbing stunt.
So it doesn’t take much to guess what Rockhold’s reaction was to seeing Paul lose a split decision to Tommy Fury over the weekend to halt his undefeated boxing run.
“He was what I thought he was. He’s a one-trick pony,” Rockhold said of Paul on Wednesday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “He just waits for the overhand right and he doesn’t think his way through fights. And that’s the thing, he doesn’t have enough dog in him and he doesn’t think his way through fights. He’s trying, I’ll give him that. He’s f****** trying.
“But he couldn’t beat Tommy Fury — Tommy Fury is like, eh, meh.”
Rockhold, 38, appeared on The MMA Hour to announce his own career news as the latest MMA free agent to sign with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship — a move he made alongside fellow former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez. Rockhold is set to make his BKFC debut against Mike Perry on April 29 in the main event of BKFC 41, while Alvarez fights Chad Mendes in the co-headliner of the same card, which will air as a $49.99 pay-per-view.
Even still, Rockhold couldn’t help but revel in the latest turn of the Jake Paul story, especially after ripping Fury pre-fight as a foe who was “as much of a boxer as I am a cricket player.”
“Tommy Fury showed more than I’ve seen in his last couple outings, so at least he stepped up,” Rockhold said. “But who knows what that looks like really against anybody who’s real.”
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