The Forgotten Champion: For Strikeforce's Luke Rockhold, Middleweight Irrelevancy Awaits

By Raphael Garcia Luke Rockhold holds a Strikeforce championship, yet may be one of the most overlooked fighters in mixed martial arts. While sporting an 8-1 record and holding a rather large title belt over his shoulder is impressive enough, the speed at which his title reign has headed towards irrelevancy is just as remarkable.Rockhold was crowned the Strikeforce middleweight champion when he was able to defeat the tough Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza this past September on the Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov card. Now he is holding a belt that may not be worth its weight. His next opponent is UFC castoff Keith Jardine, who is also 3-6-1 over his last ten fights. Needless to say, Jardine is a far cry from the type of truly deserving title contender that most champions face in combat sports. But as he stays employed as one of the only two male champions of the Strikeforce organization, there is little more that Rockhold can do than face whomever is placed in front of...