Strikeforce Champ Rockhold Sidelined with Broken Right Hand

Luke Rockhold walked away from his bout against Keith Jardine with his Strikeforce middleweight title intact, but the champ did not escape unscathed.

Rockhold confirmed Tuesday via Twitter that he suffered a clean break of his right hand during the Jan. 7 fight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

“S---,” he wrote on Monday, tweeting a picture of his X-ray. “Not exactly what I wanted to see!”

The 27-year-old American Kickboxing Academy product expects the hand to remain in a cast for four weeks, followed by two to three weeks of rehabilitation before he can resume training. Rockhold has been medically suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission until July 6 due to the hand injury, though he can compete sooner if cleared by a physician.

During the 4:26 they spent in the cage, Rockhold’s right hand repeatedly found Jardine’s head, eventually setting up the fight-ending ground-and-pound sequence. Rockhold, who improved to 9-1 with the victory, is no stranger to injury: He spent more than 18 months on the shelf between February 2010 and September 2011, a layoff due in part to a separated acromioclavicular joint in his left shoulder.