Dana White fires back at Luke Rockhold for his recent comments

Dana White fires back at Luke Rockhold for his recent comments

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was not a happy man when the UFC announced that Georges St-Pierre would be receiving a middleweight title fight against Michael Bisping in his return to the octagon.

Rockhold vented his frustrations in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.

“Our division is hot right now, they’ve got good matchups, but they’re just not putting the champion to work,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. Are they really going to wait until October to make the Georges St-Pierre fight?” 

“The company is kind of losing it these days,” he continued. “I don’t know what happened to the old company where the best fought the best. That’s what built this company, now it’s just a spectator sport. They’re just putting freak shows together.” 

“At least put an interim title on the line if [the champion’s] not gonna fight. He’s going to be inactive and not fight one contender in two years? What’s the point in being the champion?” 

When Georges St-Pierre broke the news that he would not be ready to fight “The Count” until after October, Rockhold called upon his middleweight peers to stand their ground.

“If they’re not putting an interim title on the line, or if they’re not making Bisping fight a contender, I’m not fighting anybody,” Rockhold said (via MMA Fighting).

“And so should the rest of the division, too. What’s the point? Without me, Mousasi, Yoel, and Whittaker? I think everyone should just stand their ground, and say f—k you. Put a title on the line or else, f—k, you don’t even have a division.”

“I think everyone is already on strike, aren’t they? We’re all waiting on a title. Whittaker’s down. I’ve voiced my opinion, and I think Mousasi should stand his ground, too. I mean, without us you have no f—ing division. Make something happen.”

“They’re forcing us into a corner. We got to stick up and stay together and make something happen. I’m tired of this sh-t, man.”

The move seemed to work, as shortly after Rockhold’s interview UFC president Dana White announced that the promotion was not willing to wait for “GSP”, and that top contender Yoel Romero would now receive his much deserved shot at Michael Bisping.

During last night’s UFC 211 post-fight press conference, Dana White was asked about the middleweight situation and took aim at Luke Rockhold for his recent comments.

“Nobody deserves anything! You’ve got (Luke) Rockhold screaming this… He just got knocked out in the first-round. You don’t deserve anything!”

Rockhold has not competed since suffering the aforementioned first-round knockout loss to Michael Bisping at last June’s UFC 199 event in Los Angeles, thus surrendering his UFC middleweight championship.

The former title holder, Rockhold, recently posted that he had started up fight camp. However, no opponent has been named for “Rocky” at this time.

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