Luke Rockhold on tough UFC contract negotiations: ‘Some people don’t have a leg to stand on’

There seems to be an uptick in contract issues with a few of today’s big names in the UFC.

On Monday, Georges St-Pierre announced that he is now a free agent after being released of his contract with the UFC. Current UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo is set to meet with UFC brass soon to discuss his desire to be released from his contract. Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold recently renegotiated his contract after he made it known that he was unhappy with the contract he was under. Fortunately for Rockhold, he came to an agreement with the UFC and spoke about his situation on the Submission Radio podcast recently.

“They’re gonna play hardball with some people,” Rockhold told Submission Radio (transcribed by Bloody Elbow) after his negotiations came to a rather quick resolution. “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,” said Rockhold. “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,” Rockhold 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.”

Even with just getting a new contract that he is currently happy with, the former champ says that things could change as soon as his next fight is over.

“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.”