Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has revealed his desire to fight Sean Strickland in an explosive rank, with Strickland responding with yet another sparring story.

Luke Rockhold last competed in the UFC two years ago at UFC 278, putting on a three-round war against Paulo Costa but unfortunately coming up short.

Following that, the former UFC middleweight champion decided to take his talents to BKFC, taking on the face of the promotion, Mike Perry. ‘Platinum’ Perry scored the stoppage in the second round, leaving Rockhold’s teeth in a bloody mess.

The 39-year-old then competed in Karate Combat earlier this year, knocking out Joe Schilling in round three.

Luke Rockhold goes off on Sean Strickland in an explosive callout

Following Sean Strickland‘s win over Costa at UFC 302 this past weekend, Rockhold explained his hate for the former champion in an unexpected rant.

“I hate that guy. I know a lot of people just look at me and they hate me, I see this kid’s face, every time I see him he’s just f****** disgusting,” Rockhold admitted on the Jaxxon Podcast.

“Sean Strickland is a fake little b****, he doesn’t even know who he is, I don’t think he believes the s*** he’s saying these days, he’s just spouting off,” the former champion added.

Although the 39-year-old is no longer contracted by the UFC, he claimed that if Dana White gave him a ‘hall pass’ then he’d love to return to ‘step on’ Strickland.

“Hey, if Dana gives me that hall pass, I’ll come in and I will step on that kid’s face,” claimed Rockhold.

Sean Strickland responds to Rockhold with sparring revelation

‘Tarzan’ isn’t the type of personality to sit back without issuing a response to the criticism. Responding to Rockhold on X, the former champion revealed details regarding a previous sparring session between the two.

“Couple things, I sparred you one round, f***** you up and you snuck away like a b****. This was witnessed. Also, we were scheduled to fight. I said ‘Hell yeah that’s an easy paycheck’ and you pulled out a few weeks out,” Strickland responded.

The 33-year-old is referring back to 2021 as Strickland and Rockhold were scheduled to fight at UFC 268, however, the 39-year-old withdrew because of a herniated disc.

Strickland has become widely known for calling people out for fights in his gym, Xtreme Couture, and he finished off his message to Rockhold by simply stating that if the Californian wants to fight then he will fight him at his gym, for fun.

“Xtreme? I’ll f*** you up for fun lol.” Strickland finished.