Luke Rockhold (photo via UFC/YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Luke Rockhold’s return to the Octagon has been pushed back, as the former middleweight champ has announced that he’s been forced off the UFC 268 card.

Rockhold was scheduled to fight rising contender Sean Strickland at the November 6th event. But, recently the 36-year-old Rockhold announced that a herniated disc will prevent him from competing.

The decorated fighter reportedly shared out the news via an Instagram story (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“There’s no easy way to really say it, but the fight is off in New York,” Rockhold said. “I ended up herniating a disc in my back. L4, L5. The docs say it’s nothing I can play with. I need to do some treatment and recovery time. Some things just aren’t meant to be. New York, motherf*cking New York. I’m sorry to the friends and the peeps and everyone, but we’ll be back. Until next time.”

Rockhold (16-5) hasn’t fought now since July, 2019, when he was KO’d by now current, light heavyweight champ, Jan Blachowicz. That bout followed Rockhold’s KO loss to Yoel Romero in February, 2018.

UFC 268 will be headlined by a rematch between welterweight champ Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Usman won their 2019 bout via fifth-round stoppage.