Rockhold criticizes USADA/UFC rule enforcement

Although it is starting to change a bit, finding UFC fighters who are willing to be vocal in their criticism of the promotion and its policies, practices, and labor treatment can be difficult. The MMA promotion has a consistent history of finding ways to punish or ignore critics within its own ranks, led by its president Dana White whose often threatening, demeaning, and misleading public statements make plain his petty and sometimes vindictive way of doing business.

In the resulting culture of fear, most UFC fighters go out of their way to not make rhetorical waves even when they privately express concerns over fairness, pay, and a host of other issues regarding the promotion’s business practices. In this way, former middleweight world champion Luke Rockhold stands out.

If the native Californian has ever felt trepidation about speaking his mind, he’s shown no sign of it. From openly discussing problems with his own compensation and treatment in years past, to criticizing the UFC’s matchmaking and promotional strategy, especially around the booming bubble market of interim titles they’ve inflated recently, to openly highlighting the structural flaws in the UFC’s pay for faux drug regulation relationship with USADA, and many other topics, Rockhold seems unafraid to give his blunt and probing analysis on any subject he deems important, regardless of potential blowback from powers that be.

This hasn’t changed leading up to the fighter’s UFC 230 rematch against fellow former world champ Chris Weidman next month. Even in the midst of his own training camp, and while tending to other business interests and supporting American Kickboxing Academy teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 earlier this month, Rockhold held court with reporters in Las Vegas and didn’t hesitate to express himself on a host of issues.

Speaking to MixedMartialArts.com from Florida this week, Rockhold explains his reasoning for remaining vocal. You get pushed in different ways but I’ve always gone my own way and been independent, he says.

I’m going to say what I think needs to be said. There are people in the UFC with whom I have great relationships and there are people in the UFC with whom I don’t. That’s fine.

Rockhold has been especially brave and consistent in criticizing the uneven testing and enforcement of drug policies by the UFC’s bought and paid for testing agency, USADA.

It’s frustrating to see them go after people who are not cheating, with no history of cheating, and then let people who have repeatedly violated the rules go relatively unpunished, he continues.

There’s a lot of inconsistency with the way USADA and the UFC enforce rules. The bottom line is that if you’re a draw, if the UFC needs you, you’re going to fight. They’re going to take care of whatever issues they need to in order to make sure you can fight. If you’re a fighter without that name, without that star power, it is a very different situation.

Though inconsistency is a problem to Rockhold with USADA/UFC’s drug policy enforcement, he actually believes that the promotion and its tester have a problem with too much predictability when it comes to the actual ostensibly random testing of UFC athletes.

There’s also too much consistency with the way USADA tests, he goes on.

They test at certain times in certain ways. If you’re a fighter you know that they’re going to come between six and nine in the morning and I believe there are people who are taking advantage of that predictability and finding ways to beat the testing. Why can’t USADA come wake you up in the middle of the night if it’s truly random testing?

Another topic Rockhold isn’t shy discussing, though he may be a bit weary of doing so, is his relationship with his longtime AKA team in San Jose in light of his conducting recent training camps largely in South Florida at Henri Hooft’s Hard Knocks gym.

What’s remarkable about Rockhold’s relationship management is that there appears to be no real strain between he and either team, and all coaches and teammates involved seem to come together just fine in support of the fighter’s training.

Rockhold says it really isn’t all that complicated. How you manage things like this is by being open and true to yourself, he begins.

AKA will always be my home and my team. There’s nothing they could ever do to change the way I feel about them and nothing I could do to change the way they feel about me, either.

As a martial artist you have to seek out knowledge and training and that’s something I’ve always done. I don’t know where this idea came from in MMA that you need to train with only one team. It’s ridiculous.

It just so happens that Rockhold says there have been less fighters his size at AKA in recent years and so he decided to add Hooft’s squad to his training.

In Florida, I get looks from a bunch of guys my size who are young, and hungry, and they push me. They take it to me. I need that. Right now back home at AKA it’s harder to find that with guys my size. That’s all there is to it. I still love training at AKA when I can, he explains.

You need to push yourself outside your comfort zone to stay sharp and keep learning. It hasn’t been hard. The only hard thing is people on the outside not understanding and asking questions. Nothing will ever change between me and AKA.

As Rockhold has sought out younger, hungry fighters to push him in training camp, he assures that his own metaphorical hunger for success has not waned in the least, despite all his accomplishments. Inside the cage, things are the same, he promises.

Outside of it, I may have changed a little in that I learned how to better use leverage. When you see me talk about this fight or that fight or this or that opportunity, it’s about using leverage to get what I need from the promotion.

I don’t have one foot in and one foot out. I just use leverage to my advantage. I’m all about leverage. You use it in martial arts, in fighting, and you use it in business.

I have my goals and I have my plans for how to accomplish them. I’m just as hungry as I’ve ever been.

About the author:

Elias Cepeda writes a weekly column for The UG Feed; you can find Elias Cepe on Twitter @EliasCepeda.