MMA fans remember when former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold was on a tear in the UFC after being transferred over from Strikeforce. The MMA community knows the 38-year-old as one of the most agile strikers inside the octagon. Aside from his highlight reels, the California resident is also known for his stellar looks, modeling gigs, and the women he has been linked to in the past.
Throughout the years of his career, Rockhold had an eventful 2015 when he became the UFC champion. In August 2015, Luke posted a series of clips on his Instagram. Fans witnessed the retired athlete enjoying a Taylor Swift concert. However, by the end of the series, Luke seemed to brag when he posted a picture cozying up to the 33-year-old singer.
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He even declared to have a good time at the concert, however, nothing except rumors came of it. The following year, Rockhold met pop heart-throb, Demi Lovato. The duo met each other at an MMA gym in LA and instantly hit off. A few months later, the two went public with their relationship in November.
Despite being in a casual relationship, Luke and Demi got twin tattoos of a smiling emoji. Rockhold even shared a picture of the same on his Instagram. The love birds even famously attended the star-studded UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, the pair split up in 2017.
Despite a lot of eyeballs on Rockhold and the Disney star at the time, it is still unclear why the couple split up. Fortunately, there has been no bad blood between the two ever since.
In a 2018 article with Athlete’s Voice, Luke shared, “I found myself moved from the sports pages to the gossip pages again recently when I dated Demi Lovato… I was in the gym and watched her train. She’s passionate. She’s talented. I took to that and we hung out a bit.”
Luke Rockhold’s modeling career
Even though Luke Rockhold gained a reputation for his hard-hitting kicks, he also went on to establish himself as a professional model. Possessing the looks and physique that he did, it was only a matter of time before the former champion put them to good use outside of fighting. Significantly, Luke became the face of Ralph Lauren’s ‘Polo Blue’ cologne fragrance in 2018.
Here’s the promo for Polo Blue by Ralph Lauren featuring Luke Rockhold.https://t.co/CRANJeV2h5 pic.twitter.com/yGHrGQHQRf
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) March 4, 2018
While remaining one of the best-looking fighters to ever grace the octagon, Luke signed up for the New York model management agency, Soul Artist Management. The same agency jumpstarted the career of Channing Tatum. With his modeling career picking up quickly at the time, Luke revealed that he’d have no issue taking an indefinite hiatus from the octagon for his newly found career.
The UFC Career and Achievements of Luke Rockhold
A multi-time medalist in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Luke turned into an MMA professional in 2007. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold joined the UFC in 2013. The 38-year-old went 6-5 with the Las Vegas-based promotion. Rockhold has faced straight killers inside the octagon, from the likes of Lyoto Machida, Tim Kennedy, Yoel Romero, Jan Blachowics, and more.
Luke lost his UFC debut to Vitor Belfort. However, he then picked up a 4-fight winning streak before dethroning the champion at the time, Chris Weidman in 2015. Unfortunately, Luke lost his very first title defense against Michael Bisping, someone who he’d already beaten once in 2014.
Followed by this, Rockhold had an anticlimactic end to his UFC run as he’d go 1-4 with the promotion. Rockhold left the UFC while on a 3-fight losing skid. The Santa Cruz born was on a string of humiliating KOs. which he’d hoped to rebound from in his last fight against Paolo Costa. However, despite losing the said bout via decision, Rockhold seemed to win a lot of fans’ hearts due to the tenacity he put on display against Costa.