Former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold gets a shot to reclaim the gold when he faces Robert Whittaker for the title at UFC 221.
Despite having a title shot in February, Rockhold recently wants to see change in the UFC in the form of the promotion to start taking the focus off of the UFC President.
“No offense, but your investment is into Dana White,” Rockhold said on The MMA Hour. “Dana White is not selling pay-per-views. Dana White Lookin’ for a Fight, Dana White Contender Series. Invest in the fighters and you’ll solve your problems. You’ll hit your marks. You’ll sell your pay-per-views. You’ll do your thing. Get it straight.”
Rockhold has not always seen eye to eye with the UFC, especially when the middleweight division was stalled during the build to Michael Bisping versus Georges St. Pierre at UFC 217.
The former middleweight champion also believes that the promotion is lacking in structure at the moment.
“There’s no structure, there’s no rhyme or reason to who gets title shot. Nate Diaz is my guy but the fact that they were even negotiating Nate Diaz for a welterweight title shot? It’s disrespectful to everybody in the f*cking division. These guys are, we work our asses off to get where we are, and it’s pissing me off. It’s losing its integrity and it needs to get back with its roots,” says Rockhold.
UFC 221 takes place on Saturday, February 10 from the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia with Robert Whittaker and Luke Rockhold headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
