Luke Rockhold is back in action once again. This time, facing the seasoned Joe Schilling in a Karate bout at Karate Combat 45.
The martial arts veterans will compete against each other in Dubai, on April 20, where the pair will meet in the uniquely shaped Karate Combat pit.
After winning and successfully defending the Strikeforce Middleweight champion between 2011-2012, Rockhold signed with the UFC in 2013 and after losing his promotional debut, saw him go on a 5 fight run. The last fight of that winning streak came against Chris Weidman at UFC 194, where Rockhold was crowned the new Middleweight champion with a fourth-round stoppage. He then dropped the title to long time rival Michael Bisping before getting back to winning ways against David Branch in 2017.
After three consecutive losses to Yoel Romero, Jan Blachowicz and Paulo Costa, Rockhold decided to call time on his UFC career in August 2022. Although still training regularly, the former champion has only competed once since hanging up the four-ounce gloves. Like many others, Rockhold opted to explore the world of bare-knuckle boxing and faced Mike Perry at BKFC 41. Midway through the second round, Rockhold suffered a nasty injury to the mouth which called an end to proceedings.
Almost a year to the day removed from the BKB bout, the 39-year-old will compete in yet another martial arts discipline when he faces Schilling in their karate bout.
Schilling comes into the fight on the back of a loss to Tony Johnson at Bellator 229 in 2019. The lack of action for Schilling has not been through a lack of trying. In October 2020, he was set to face Curtis Millender at Bellator 249 but the bout was pulled before fight night. He then looked to compete once more, 2 years later, in a boxing bout against Armin Mrkanovic but the event was postponed prior to going ahead.
Although his MMA career may not have hit the heights he was hoping it would, amassing a 4-6-0 record, ‘Stitch ‘em Up’ excelled in other disciplines, namely Muay Thai and Kickboxing, having competed for world titles in both.
Schilling’s extremely aggressive style has led to him finding himself on the right side of many a highlight reel finish and the elite striker will no doubt be looking to add another one to his ever growing collection.
