Luke Rockhold TKO’s Schilling, calls out Machida

Luke Rockhold is again.

The previous UFC middleweight champion picked up his first fight sports activities win in years, placing away veteran kickboxer and former Bellator fighter Joe Schilling in the principle occasion of Karate Fight 45, which befell on Saturday afternoon in Dubai.

Rockhold stopped Schilling early into the third spherical. He linked an enormous proper hand that despatched Schilling to the bottom, after which adopted up with ground-and-pound to shut out the bout.

Under, you’ll be able to see the video of Rockhold’s end:

Luke Rockhold flooring Joe Schilling with a vicious proper hand for the end at Karate Fight 45 😳 #KC45 (🎥 through @karatecombat) pic.twitter.com/2LrKT2iGhU

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) April 20, 2024

After the victory, Rockhold referred to as for a combat in opposition to fellow former UFC champion Lyoto Machida in Karate Fight.

“There’s just one man I need to combat on this pit, and that’s Lyoto Machida,” Rockhold mentioned in his post-fight interview. “You’re fortunate as a result of they don’t permit elbows, so no extra nightmares concerning the elbows. Convey it. Let’s see what you bought, let’s see what the paychecks appear to be, deliver out that verify e-book.

“Lyoto, I do know you want a pay-day motherf*cker, come get it.”

That is Rockhold’s second combat in his post-UFC run. After preventing out his contract with the UFC in August 2022, and briefly hinting retirement, Rockhold fought Mike Perry in a bareknuckle boxing in April 2023 – a combat he misplaced by TKO. He now returns to cease Schilling below the hanging guidelines of Karate Fight.

Rockhold and Machida have fought beforehand. They met in 2015 within the headliner of a UFC Combat Evening occasion. That evening in New Jersey, Rockhold submitted Machida with a rear-naked choke. Machida is at present a free agent after parting methods with Bellator a few years again. He’s but to formally retire and has expressed curiosity in preventing once more.