After watching Andrew Tate’s Misfits Boxing debut against Chase DeMoor on December 20, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold didn’t hold back. Speaking to Submission Radio this week, the 40-year-old veteran offered a sharp critique of Tate’s performance in Dubai, where the controversial influencer suffered a majority decision defeat.
Luke Rockhold Unimpressed by Andrew Tate’s Boxing Debut
“For a four-time world champion, you should have been able to box. That’s all I got to say,” Rockhold stated. “If you are a four-time world champion, because I’m a four-time world champion, you know, I might have lost, but I showed that I can still box. I can throw in any department of fighting. I can still do what I do. But Andrew just didn’t… he just didn’t look good. He didn’t look like it was there.”
Tate returned to competitive fighting for the first time since December 2020. His layoff of five years appeared to catch up with him during the six-round heavyweight title bout at Dubai’s Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Judges scored the fight 57-57, 58-56, 58-56 in favour of DeMoor, who retained his Misfits heavyweight title.
eMoor, a 5-2-1 record holder and reality TV personality from “Too Hot to Handle,” struggled initially to find his rhythm. However, from round three onward, momentum shifted dramatically. DeMoor began landing heavier shots, and by round five, a powerful uppercut hurt Tate significantly.
Tate’s gas tank became a problem as the fight progressed. In the final rounds, he was largely in survival mode, absorbing shots and showing little offensive output. A cut opened above his left eye in the later stages, and by the final bell, he looked spent. The fight quality declined on both ends, something Rockhold addressed directly.
Credit to Andrew Tate, you know, stepping up and doing his thing, too. I love the way he presents himself and how he challenged himself to go do something, but at the end of the day that fight was horrible. It was just a really bad fight on both ends,” Rockhold explained.
Rockhold’s perspective carries weight. The Santa Cruz native won his UFC title at UFC 194 by knocking out Chris Weidman in December 2015 and previously held the Strikeforce middleweight championship. He’s also maintained an active career competing across multiple promotions, recently signed to face Colby Covington at Real American Freestyle’s January 10 event in Sunrise, Florida.
Before stepping into the ring, Tate was installed as a favourite. His striking pedigree, combined with DeMoor’s relatively limited boxing experience, suggested the former kickboxer would have the technical advantage. Instead, size and aggression from DeMoor proved to be the deciding factors.
Tate’s performance has already spawned considerable reaction online. The loss has been framed by some observers as a “fraud check” for the influencer, whose credibility in combat sports was already questioned by sections of the MMA and boxing communities. KSI, the CEO of Misfits Boxing, posted on social media celebrating DeMoor’s win.
