Luke Rockhold is finally back. After over a full year without a fight, the former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion is coming back to the Octagon for his bout since losing the belt. Rockhold will headline UFC Fight Night Pittsburgh against David Branch -- an event set to take place on the same night as the boxing superfight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
UFC was originally expected to leave the date open to allow Golden Boy Promotions the spotlight, but has since scheduled events throughout the end of August and beginning of September when both Canelo-GGG and Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweatherare set to take place.
Rockhold (15-3) was on a roll before getting knocked out by Michael Bisping at UFC 199, who took the fight on 10 days' notice after Chris Weidman was forced to pull out with an injury. After recovering from an injury, Rockhold was expected to take on Jacare Souza in November 2016, but was forced to pull out with another injury.
Rockhold has spent much of 2017 criticizing UFC ownership, saying the proposed return of Georges St-Pierre against Bisping would "cheapen the belt" and called for an interim title shot while that was all sorted out. UFC president Dana White said he wouldn't do that since Bisping was actively defending his title, but the champ hasn't taken a fight since last October and put himself on the shelf again with another injury.
Now, Rockhold will get a tough challenger in Branch (21-3), who is coming off a decision win over Krzysztof Jotko at UFC 211. Branch is the former World Series of Fighting middleweight champion who is on his second stint with UFC. He hasn't suffered a loss in MMA since 2012.
