Luke Rockhold’s return to the octagon has been further delayed after the fighter was forced to withdraw from his fight at UFC 268.
The former UFC and Strikeforce champion announced on Instagram on Monday that he will be unable to fight Sean Strickland (24-3) on November 6th due to a herniated disc in his back.
Rockhold (16-5) stated it’s an issue affecting his L4 and L5 vertebrae that will require treatment and recovery time.
Since losing the UFC middleweight title to Michael Bisping in June 2016, Rockhold has only fought three times. His last fight occurred in July 2019 where he was knocked out by current 205-pound champion Jan Blachowicz in Rockhold’s light heavyweight debut.
His opponent at UFC 269, Sean Strickland, posted his reaction on Instagram and stated, “He was never going to make it to the fight lmao…no one is surprised.”
The November 6th card will take place from Madison Square Garden with Kamaru Usman defending the welterweight championship against Colby Covington in the main event along with a rematch between 115-pound women’s champion Rose Namajunas defending her championship against Zhang Weili.
