Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold has laid into the organization's president Dana White.
Speaking on the Rippin' It podcast, the American brawler took the opportunity to lay into the divisive leader, who he has often clashed with over the years.
"Fighting is like a mafia. They have these very mafioso-type tactics in negotiations, they try to f*ck with you. I'm not having any of it," scoffed Rockhold.
"If you don't know your worth someone will tell you your worth and it'll be less than your worth, so know your worth," Rockhold continued.
"Once I lost the world title [in 2016 to Michael Bisping], Dana White came up to me and tried to beat me down mentally and I was like 'f*ck you,' straight up," Rockhold went on.
"I was like I'm going to go do my own thing, if you're going to try and offer me this and that bullsh*t, you know who I am and what I did, that's the only reason I went out and got a modeling contract so I could leverage myself."
Expected to return to the octagon over the summer, Rockhold has not been seen in MMA since a 2019 knockout loss to light heavyweight ruler Jan Blachowicz, and also had shoulder surgery last year.
Now trained by Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rockhold doubled down on White by saying: "We don't have [a] governing body. We've got an egotistical guy that's a bit of a tyrant.
"No one is going to try and fight you, you've got to put your a** on the line, stand your ground, take risk, otherwise you get treated like a b*tch," he explained.
Also on rt.com 'She ran at me like a zombie': Former UFC champ Luke Rockhold says he front-kicked woman 'trying to infect him' (VIDEO)'It's unfortunate, a guy like that, he thinks he can fight, he thinks he's a fighter. I don't understand why he's trying to belittle all the fighters when you've never fought a day in your life. You're a promoter," Rockhold said of White.
"We need a governing body to give people what they deserve, he doesn't play the game right," he concluded.