UFC President Dana White is trying to use the combat sports media to pressure former 185-pound champion Luke Rockhold into accepting a comeback fight against surging middleweight masturbator Sean Strickland.
Read those comments here.
“I think Dana’s trying make it harder than it has to be, obviously just because of my outspokenness on different things,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “He goes out and says they offered Sean Strickland after there wasn’t really much of an offer. There wasn’t like a fight date, there wasn’t like a formal offer. He just wants to go put it out there, like to put pressure. I don’t know, that’s just stupid.”
This isn’t the first time Rockhold was presented with Strickland as a potential opponent. But “Tarzan” was still a “fucking nobody” when negotiations first got underway, though Strickland may be in a better position after beating Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 33.
“They offered me Sean actually a while back and I just wasn’t interested because he’s just a fucking nobody,” Rockhold explained. “It wasn’t the fight I wanted. It didn’t make any sense, no one knew of him, and I didn’t give two fucks about him. And now it’s like Dana’s trying to piss me off with it. And now he’s obviously been out there, he beat Uriah Hall, he looked decent and he took a ranking. So, there’s something to work with I guess now.”
Rockhold (16-5), who turns 37 in just a few weeks, has not competed since Jan Blachowicz knocked him out at UFC 239 in summer 2019, a performance that sent the former Strikeforce champion back to the middleweight division.
“It’s maybe not the fight that I exactly wanted, but you give me the right card,” Rockhold said. “There’s still things that have to be worked out and have to be ironed out. It’s not a done deal. So, put me on MSG (Madison Square Garden), put me on something big, put me on something fun. Put me on something that makes me get up for it. Because I’m not coming back for no reason.”
UFC is hoping to make its “Big Apple” return to MSG in November.