Rockhold slams UFC's negotiation tactics: 'They try to f--- with you'
Warning: Story contains coarse language
Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is shedding light on his negotiation experience with the UFC.
"Fighting is like a mafia," Rockhold said during a recent appearance on the "Rippin' It" podcast.
"There's very mafioso tactics and negotiations, and they try to f--- with you. And I'm not having any of it. If you don't know your worth, someone will tell you your worth, and it'll be less than your worth. So know your worth and leverage yourself, too."
Rockhold took more than one year off from fighting after losing the title to Michael Bisping in June 2016. During that time, the 36-year-old said he decided to pursue a modeling career to increase his leverage and make it possible to turn down unappealing fight offers.
"Once I lost the world title, (UFC president) Dana White came up to me and tried to beat me down mentally," Rockhold said. "I was like, 'F--- you.' Straight up. And I was like, 'I'm going to do my own thing. If you're going to offer me this bullshit, you know who I am and what I did.'
"That was the only reason I went out and got the modeling contract - so I could leverage myself. I went back, and within a year, I got the fragrance with Ralph Lauren. And then you got Dana and them crawling back to me like, 'Hey Luke, what do you want to do? Can you fight here? Do you want this amount of money? Do you want that?' And (it's) like, 'Yeah, that's right, motherf-----.'"
Rockhold continued to blast White for his practices, saying one of the only things that would ensure fighters get paid and treated fairly is a governing body.
"That's another problem, too," Rockhold said. "You have governing bodies everywhere else. And we have an egotistical guy that's kind of a bit of a tyrant. He's going to try to fight you, and you have to put your foot and ass on the line. You have to stand your ground, and you have to take risks. Otherwise, you get treated like a b----. It's unfortunate.
"A guy like that, he thinks he can fight. He thinks he's a fighter. ... I don't know why he's trying to belittle all the fighters when you've never fought a day in your life. ... We need a governing body to really give people what they deserve because he doesn't play the game right."
Rockhold, who hasn't stepped into the cage since a July 2019 loss to current light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, is 1-3 since 2015.
The former champ opted against retirement last August and is currently plotting a return to the UFC, but a date has not been set.