Luke Rockhold signs with Karate Combat, debut set vs. Joe Schilling

Luke Rockhold’s post-UFC journey continues with a foray into the Karate Fight pit.

Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Rockhold has signed a contract with Karate Fight and can make his debut at Karate Fight 45 on April 20 in Dubai towards former GLORY and Bellator veteran Joe Schilling.

Each athletes introduced the reserving on Wednesday. No weight class was revealed for the competition.

Rockhold, 39, parted methods with the UFC following a loss in his ultimate promotional look in August 2022. He then signed with BKFC and suffered a second-round TKO loss to Mike Perry in April 2023. He was additionally scheduled for a grappling match with Craig Jones this previous fall, nevertheless it was canceled. Now he joins Karate Fight, the place he can put his always-dangerous hanging to full use.

He’ll tackle Schilling, 40, who hasn’t seen fight sports activities motion since October 2019 when he suffered a knockout loss to Tony Johnson below the Bellator banner. Schilling has been scheduled in a pair of fight sports activities bouts since then, however none of them have come to fruition.