Luke Rockhold, looking back on his UFC career, does not fondly remember his early days with the UFC. On the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Rockhold recalled the “disrespect” he endured at the hands of UFC president Dana White ever since he first signed with the promotion.
Luke Rockhold was riding a nine-fight winning streak, including two defenses of the Strikeforce middleweight title, when he joined the UFC in 2013. His first fight, Rockhold claims, failed to acknowledge his pedigree.
Rockhold Blasts Dana White For the Time The UFC Sent Him to “Steroid-Ville in F***ing Brazil”
“They made me go down to ‘steroid-ville’ in f*cking Brazil and fight Vitor. Everybody else got respect and was going into world championship fights and consideration for. I got nothing, you know? Two-time defending Strikeforce champion coming in there, and [it was like] you haven’t done sh*t.
Had to go fight Vitor when they know what they were doing back then protecting him. Motherf*cker was juiced to the gills. Had to get cleaned by him and knocked down, belittled by everybody, and then build myself back up. I’m good at building myself back up.”
Rockhold lost that fight via first-round knockout, but was proud to say he built himself back up afterward. On his rocky relationship with Dana White, Luke Rockhold described the situation as “f*cked up”, even if, at the end, the pair were able to reconcile and part ways with respect.
“It’s f*cked up. It’s f*cked up to say, ‘Why do you think I’m so mad at Dana?’ Because Dana never gave me a chance. From the moment I came in the UFC, he never gave me a f*cking chance. Wrote me off, never highlighted my years in Strikeforce or anything I did on the wins, only my losses.
Dana White controls the narrative of what the public perceives. And you know, it’s like, he f*cked me from the start. It took me 16, 17 years to come back into a fight like that to earn my respect. Nothing I did in the past mattered till now? Alright. That’s why I feel the way I feel sometimes, you know? And that’s why I say the things I say. You got to understand the power that you have in that situation, the narrative that you create. The public believes what they want to believe and what you tell them to believe […]
I think Dana gave me his piece and I do appreciate that from Dana. I appreciate that respect after all these years.” Do you think Luke Rockhold was treated unfairly with the Vitor Belfort fight? Let us know in the comments.
