Ahead of his return to mixed martial arts on November 6, UFC legend Luke Rockhold is offering a no-holds-barred evaluation of the MMA landscape. He’s not impressed.
“No one has enough balls,” he told The MMA Hour. “No one has enough cajones. That’s the problem. Not enough to [make a difference].
“No one has enough balls”: Luke Rockhold on the state of MMA
There’s very few people that have the f*cking balls, but to get the right amount of people together to do that thing, it would never happen. Not in any foreseeable future.
[The UFC] gives out enough to make everyone come back for more. You know what I mean? And then someone f*cking sparks up a conversation and they get shelved until they run out of money and they want to come back, and they have to do what they have to do, and they have to take the paycheck they have to take. This is the game they play.”
Rockhold, of course, is talking about the often-discussed issue of UFC fighter pay. If you ask most of the fighters, they don’t think they’re seeing enough of the money the UFC earns.
Luke Rockhold compared MMA to boxing, and the massive discrepancy in fighter purses. He pointed out that the relatively low wages enjoyed by the UFC’s elite compared to boxers is precisely what attracts retiring MMA talent to box the likes of Jake Paul.
“Boxing is a much more lucrative business. You get what’s called the Muhammad Ali Act. Then you have what’s called [purse bids], when you can bid to promote. The promoters can bid for the fighters. They’re not just monopolized by one company who dictates what you pay and what you get paid.
So [boxers are] taking 60 to 80 percent of the revenue, whereas we’re taking 16 percent of the revenue [in the UFC]. Most other sports are taking 50 percent of the revenues.
So if you want to balance all of that out, yes, there’s a balancing game in the fighting, why people choose different routes. Boxing is getting paid, so why would you fight a much more dangerous sport and not get paid as much?
All these celebrity people, they’re not going to jeopardize themselves like that. They don’t want that. They don’t have that dog in them. They don’t have that nastiness. That’s why you box. That’s why you b*tch and you box.”
Should the UFC develop a purse bid system, or is Luke Rockhold just complaining? Let us know in the comments.
Remember to stay up to date with the latest news on TheOvertimer. Don’t forget to visit Screen Juicer for great videos, news, and gameplay!
