Strikeforce
Strikeforce Champ Luke Rockhold hurt, out of Nov. 3 bout with Lorenz Larkin
Oct 7, 2012 - 10:55:16 PM Strikeforce Champ Luke Rockhold hurt, out of Nov. 3 bout with Lorenz Larkin

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Several reports hit Twitter over the weekend stating that Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold had suffered an injury ahead of a scheduled Nov. 3 bout against Lorenz Larkin. TheMMACorner.com's Rob Tatum brought news of the injury on Saturday, and a separate report from MMAFighting.com on Sunday night confirms that Rockhold has been forced out of the bout.

The culprit is a wrist injury, though there's no word on just how severe it is, or how long Rockhold will be out of action. The bout with Larkin was to be Rockhold's third title defense of 2012, though that will obviously now be delayed.

The injury also takes out another fight from the top of this card, which is still scheduled to take place from Oklahoma City. The night's main event was lost last month when Frank Mir suffered an injury, and Daniel Cormier remains without an opponent at this time. Not only that, but this leaves that event without a main or co-main event just two weeks after Strikeforce's most recently scheduled event was canceled.

Penick's Analysis: This is just bad news for Strikeforce, and continues a really bad run of injuries at the high levels of this sport in 2012. They still haven't replaced Mir against Cormier, and now they have nothing else to sell on the card outside of that - not that this matchup was one that sold in the first place. Still, it's another one of their top fighters out of a card, and with so few available, the viability of Strikeforce will continue to be questioned.