Luke Rockhold Lay Out His Terms For Chris Weidman Fight At UFC 230
If you are wondering, that you will get a middleweight rematch between Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman at UFC 230 this November, then you need to control your horses for a short while.
Rockhold is playing hard with UFC. According to MMAJunkie, former champion didn’t sign the contract unless the money goes up.
Back in May, Rockhold scores a deal as the face of Polo Ralph Lauren new fragrance, #PoloBlue and currently busy with his modeling commitments where he’s earning more money.
Former champ says if UFC wants him to fight Weidman at UFC 230 at Madison Square Garden in New York, then promotion has got to come up with the right deal otherwise he’s not too motivated to take the fight.
“No pen to paper,” Rockhold said at an event with sponsor American Ethanol in Sioux Falls, S.D., where Bellator 204 is taking place. “Of course it’s intriguing. Madison Square Garden vs. Weidman – (I’m) No. 2, he’s No. 3 (in the official UFC rankings). It’s a pretty clear-cut fight. You go out there and do the job at Madison Square … it’s fun, it’s sexy.
“You’ve got to show me the right contract. I don’t need to do anything. Business is good. We’re doing business everywhere. I’ve got a lot of things going on. When you show me the right contract, I’ll sign the right contract.”
The news of their fight reported almost three weeks ago, but UFC didn’t make any official announcement yet.
Rockhold said, his business outside the Octagon is doing good that he doesn’t have to take the fight for financial reasons. To make a weight for 185-pound limit and go to full training camp, ‘American’ have to make sure he holds the right deal to start all that.
“I love fighting,” he said. “I’m nowhere near done fighting. But it’s got to make sense. I’m not going to take off time and lose money to go fight. I love what I do and I know I have a lot more to give in this sport. But these people need to get their contracts straight. They need to get their priorities straight with what they want and where they want to go. I know what I want. Everything is good. I’m not going to (expletive) lose money fighting. I’m doing very well outside the cage.”
Back in 2015, at UFC 194 PPV event Rockhold defeated Weidman via fourth-round TKO to win the middleweight title. He kept that belt under his umbrella for six months and then in his very first title defense he lost it against Michael Bisping at UFC 199 via first round KO. Then he rebounded with a victory against David Branch before dropping to Yoel Romero at UFC 221 and lost a chance to win interim belt.
Weidman’s loss against Luke kicks off three-fight skid; then he came back onto winning column with a win over Kelvin Gastelum back in July 2017, then sidelines for over a year with a thumb injury.
It’s just less than three months left, so UFC needs to do something to book this fight. UFC 230 is set to go down on November 3, at Madison Square Garden in New York.
