Last month, Luke Rockhold went public about being unhappy with the UFC's latest offer to him. He said "the money is bullshit" after his contract got restructured when he lost the UFC title, and expressed his willingness to sit on the sidelines as he is also juggling a lucrative modeling career on the side.
A couple of weeks later, and Rockhold is booked to headline UFC Melbourne and rematch with Jacare Souza, signaling that there's been an improvement on the promotion's offer. He recently spoke about his situation and also hinted that he isn't completely satisfied with the deal.
"They’re gonna play hardball with some people," Rockhold told Submission Radio about his contract being resolved relatively quick. "Some people don’t have a leg to stand on, I guess surprisingly enough. I know Weidman has his own issues too. A lot of people thought they’ll follow suit, I guess, after seeing what did – it didn’t work out for some of them. I think it depends on knowing what your worth is, knowing what you’re capable of and how far you can push."
"There’s another league, they have good money, that is an option for some people. For me, it’s gotta make sense. Dollars make sense," he said. "And so if the dollars aren’t up to par, then what’s the point? For me, I’ve put my time in this sport. I think I’ve earned my reputation and I have a leg to stand on when I make a demand like that."
"My contract, I’d done up early on and I was informed that I’d be taken care of if I held up my part of the bargain," he said. "I think signing that contract before Machida, beating a champion in Machida decisively, putting him away and putting away Chris Weidman -- you know, making a hiccup in Bisping shouldn’t set me back to where I was. And so I had told them how I felt about it and so we moved in a better direction, but I think there’s still a lot of improvement to make."
The 31-year-old took home a disclosed amount of $250,000 on his last bout against Michael Bisping, and as champion at the time, he also likely earned a percentage of the pay-per-view sales. He wasn't happy with the initial offer the UFC made after losing his title, but he did accept a better deal shortly after despite noting some needed "improvement" still.
When asked if he would be looking to discuss an even better contract after UFC Melbourne, he did leave the door open to it.
"That all depends on who I fight and what happens. So I mean, if I beat Jacare, if that title fight isn’t waiting for me at my doorstep, well I’m sure we’ll talk."
Listen to the interview above where Rockhold shared how he was initially offered Yoel Romero but somehow ended up with Jacare. He also took shots at Bisping for "bitching out" and trying to avoid the top middleweights.