Former UFC champion Luke Rockhold was certainly a one-of-a-kind personality to have ever graced the Octagon. From garnering attention for his looks to making waves in the headlines for his relationship with singer-songwriter Devi Lovato – the former middleweight champion made a lot of noise during his UFC tenure. Moreover, there was one out-of-Octagon opportunity that came with his UFC stardom, and Rockhold claims Dana White didn’t seem too thrilled about it.

Luke Rockhold recently revealed that he had been offered several modeling gigs early in his career after he became the Strikeforce champion. At that time, his sights were only set at becoming UFC champion, which led him to turn down those opportunities to fulfill his primary goal. “I had offers to go model, and I just put it all aside until I did what I wanted to do, which was to become the champ, you know, undisputedly,” Rockhold stated on the Jaxxon podcast.

It was then that Luke Rockhold opened up on the real reason why he decided fighting and winning the belt took precedence. It was none other than the head honcho, Dana White. It appears that the UFC CEO made some negative remarks regarding the former 185-pound champion, and that acted as fuel for Rockhold to prove a point to his former employer. That, according to the former UFC star, was the only way he could ‘regain respect’ for himself.

“I got disrespected by Dana and I did what I had to do to kind of regain my respect,” Luke Rockhold added. “One of my favorite quotes was Bernard Hopkins. ‘If you don’t know your worth, someone’s going to tell you your worth’. It’s going to be less than your worth. You have to know your f***ing worth.”

It’s no secret that Luke Rockhold and Dana White didn’t have the best of relationships when he was active in the promotion. The former UFC middleweight champion even opened up on the encounter he had with the UFC CEO after he lost his middleweight title to Michael Bisping. Let’s take a look at that front.

Dana White went off on Luke Rockhold after losing his title

The heat between Luke Rockhold and Dana White took shape when the former raised the issue about fighter pay. But the day he lost his middleweight title to Michael Bisping in 2016, their relationship descended to an all-time low. Rockhold claimed his former employer even took a dig at him with a negative comment regarding him as a fighter. But everything came full circle as the 40-year-old gained that respect back after putting on a commendable performance in his last UFC fight in 2022.

Everybody expected Rockhold to lose devastatingly to his farewell fight opponent, Paulo Costa, given the former’s penchant for getting brutally KO’d by his past opponents. However, in what was an endearing moment for many UFC fans, the former AKA fighter fought his heart out inside the Octagon and bid a tearful goodbye to fans as he spoke to Joe Rogan after losing a unanimous decision to ‘Borrachinha’. It was an emotional moment, but a good send-off for the former middleweight champion who fans were tired of seeing get brutally finished in the latter part of his career.

“It definitely felt good to get that respect I felt I always deserved [after my last UFC fight]. He disrespected me when I lost the title and said, ‘You ain’t sh*t. You weren’t this, you weren’t that.’ I’m like, ‘F*** you, dude. I’ll go make my money elsewhere'”, Rockhold told MMA Junkie. The middleweight champion, after feeling disrespected, gambled on himself and left the UFC only to become the face of Ralph Lauren’s Polo Blue fragrance, which was a big win for the 40-year-old.

Despite the ups and downs, Luke Rockhold had a memorable career, beating many legends of the sport in his rise, such as Lyoto Machida, Chris Weidman, and the aforementioned Michael Bisping. Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts on Rockhold’s revelation about his issues with Dana White in the comments down below.