Luke Rockhold not surprised 'joke' Fabricio Werdum lost title to Stipe Miocic

TORRANCE, Calif. -- The war of words between Luke Rockhold and Fabricio Werdum doesn't seem to be nearing any kind of finish.

Given the opportunity at UFC 199 open workouts to talk Werdum's title loss to Stipe Miocic last month, Rockhold gladly took it and slammed the former heavyweight champion as usual.

"I thought he was a joke," Rockhold said. "I thought he was making [off] with something he stole. That's how I saw Werdum."

Rockhold is not a particular fan of Werdum's "happy face" facial expression, one that Werdum replicated on thousands of face masks that were supposed to be distributed to fans at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil. The "happy face" has become part of Werdum's brand and did it walking into the Octagon against Miocic. "Vai Cavalo" ended up being knocked out in the first round.

"He was parading around with a belt like he stole something with that stupid face he always kept," Rockhold said. "How do you keep that face? How do you walk into the cage with that face on? Be a champion and carry yourself like so. I've never been a fan of Fabricio and I didn't think he was the true champion. That's my opinion on that."

Rockhold and Werdum have not liked each other -- to put it mildly -- dating back to their days with Strikeforce. That rivalry was exacerbated by Werdum beating Rockhold's teammate Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title last year. Werdum told media earlier this year that he refers to Rockhold as "Cockhold" or "Cockyhold."

#cockyhold @lukerockhold @portaldovaletudo @graciemag_br @graciemagazine @tatamemagazine @ufc @ufc_brasil @sherdogdotcom

A photo posted by Fabricio Werdum (@werdum) on Jan 14, 2016 at 1:19pm PST

Rockhold said last year that he'd be interested in fighting Werdum down the line. It's doubtful that would ever happen since their weights are so far apart. Werdum also doesn't seem to be interested. He told Combate in January that he wouldn't fight Rockhold, because he only fights men, not "wimps."

"I don't know what happened, but honestly, I never really cared for Rockhold," Werdum said. "I don't like people who are full of themselves. If you're the man, you don't have to show it to other people. He has his head up his ass. I've never really talked to him. When I fought Velasquez, he told me some sh*t before the fight. After I won, I passed by him and asked him ‘Where's the fake belt now?' and all he said was 'good job.'"

Werdum is down now after the loss and the pendulum has swung. The Brazilian will surely be ready to comment if Rockhold loses his title to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 on Saturday in Los Angeles.