Better career move; declining the fight after Romero missed weight, or taking it and losing this way

[magicmarker]

Wondering if the collective opinion would be better, worse, or about the same had Luke opted not to take the fight, and opinions on whether it was the right career move long term (of course short term it's better to take the fight because his pay went up) but do you think the money was worth the loss and sliding out of top contention?

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

More respect to fighters who fight no matter what

Wand fought Hunt on 3 days notice and had a 60+ lb handicap

 

[ramair455]

hindsight is 20/20 vision

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Hard to say in hindsight.

Luke seemed SUPER confident and pumped for this fight.

But he was on board to fight Bobby knux for the real title prior to Whittaker pulling out.

Tough spot.

 

[12ga.]

Luke woulda been pounded by Social media and Dana worse than Romero did if he backed out over 2.7 pounds.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

I picked Rockhold to win... He looked ready to win and fight Whitaker... Props for taking it and keeping the Main-Event. 185 is weak. Could see him working his way back up in the future.

 

[D4C]

He wouldn't have been sexually violated, if he'd declined.

 

[Kung Fu bb]

Props to Luke for taking the fight.
But imho the outcome would´ve been the same regardless of those 2 last pounds to cut. He lost the fight because Romero was a warrior and was able to overcome adversity by hiding the pain in his leg and capitalized on Luke's poor defense when he had the chance.

 

[Buri]

Hopefully he got well compensated for the risk. Here's the thing, when there are say 3-6 fighters at the top of a division and pretty even, fans need to get over the fighters losing to each other. In other one on one sports, rematches are not only normal, but fans hope for it because they know it is the best against the best.
Consider tennis (and no I'm not saying they are the same) , the top 4 are revered and if Federer, djokovic, Murray and Nadal played in every semifinals for 5 tournaments, it would be loved. When someone else breaks in, they are loved too.

Rockhold should stay at the top and given a good win, be right back in consideration.

 

[Amerikuracana]

UFC will take care of him ok for it.

 

[GOD...frey Jones]

I know the UFC would have heaped the pressure on him to take it. So he won't lose much ground with the division for that alone.

 

[Arkham's Notorious Geyser]

In hindsight, it'd make sense that him accepting the fight was a bad thing, but Luke's a fighter, and a cocky one at that, he accepted the extra pay, and took the fight under the guise he would still be able to beat Romero which turned out not to be the case. He may have a huge ego, but he's a fighter first, and didn't look at it as a way to get out, but more as a way to get more leverage in negotiations for pay. Even after getting KTFO, for the sake of the arts and what it means to be a true fighter, he made the right call.

Of course there's still the chance that Luke is probably kicking himself accepting the fight when he was supposed to originally fight Whittaker and that doesn't look like that's ever gonna happen, so, it's hard to say.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Not sure, Robert was gonna KO him anyways

He wasn't ready for left hands

He prob made more considering he prob got same pay as if he woulda fought Robert, plus got 30% of Yoels pay.

 

[Koro_11]

It's 2.7 lbs. If he backed out over that he would be looked at as lower than GDR.

Like this he lost to possibly the best MW in the world, no big deal, many top guys lost to Romero.

 

[mutombo]

I think Rockhold is kinda done now. He must be saltier than the dead sea.

 

[Big McLargeHuge]

I would never want to fight Romero, but if I was a professional fighter who was at the top of my division I would prefer to fight Romero after what seemed to be a tough weight cut considering Romero has faded in the past

 

[Toco]

I mean I don't think the weight issue played a part on the fight. if it went to the later rounds, sure, but I don't think he lost because of that

 

[LittleSmokey]

Should have declined the fight because the PPV card was shit.

 

[Cooliox]

There is no option for Luke to decline the fight. The card would have been fucked and Dana would have thrown him under the bus.

This has always been the case. U accept the catchweight fight or the UFC spites you later in your career.

There needs to be a harsher punishment for those who miss weight. Like, they can't win. If they win it is a nc. If they lose its a loss.

 

[baba2008]

I don't think it impacts his career long term, as probably half of sherdog predicted this ending anyway. We should all be thankful he took the fight - we wouldn't have this legendary moment if he hadn't: