"We found emails from managers to the UFC brass" - Former fighter involved in class-action lawsuit reveals concerning details in the wake of Luke Rockhold's outburst on fighter pay
Former UFC fighter Nate Quarry has responded to recent comments about fighter pay from former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.
Quarry is mostly known for his time spent on The Ultimate Fighter and has previously fought for the middleweight title. The 50-year-old last appeared for the UFC in 2010 but is currently involved in a class-action lawsuit against the UFC, demanding better fighter pay and welfare.
Rockhold is set to face Paulo Costa at UFC 278 this weekend but has been very vocal about his displeasure with the UFC and its pay model in recent weeks. The 37-year-old said:
“You have managers that are in the pocket of the UFC that govern a massive umbrella of fighters. UFC uses these two or three managers, we all know who they are…will never speak up against the UFC. That is the UFC’s monopoly, their mafioso tactics.”
Quarry responded to the above quote from Rockhold, stating that he "can't wait" for some of the information about his lawsuit to become public knowledge.
"In the discovery of our UFC lawsuit, we found emails from managers to the UFC brass saying their fighters will actually take LESS money than offered, all to gain favor with the UFC as a manager that is 'easy to work with'. Beloved managers. I can't wait for it to be public info."
In the discovery of our UFC lawsuit we found emails from managers to the UFC brass saying their fighters will actually take LESS money than offered all to gain favor with the UFC as a manager that is "easy" to work with.
"Beloved" managers.
I can't wait for it to be public info. twitter.com/heynottheface/…
Catch Luke Rockhold's fighter pay comments here:
Luke Rockhold wants to find the "quit" in Paulo Costa
Luke Rockhold is making his return to the octagon after a three-year hiatus this weekend. Both Paulo Costa and Rockhold are on two-fight skids but have each expressed their desire to challenge for the 185lbs strap once again.
The American is unranked in the middleweight division whereas 'Borrachinha' sits at No.6 in the rankings. A win for the 37-year-old would be one of the biggest of his career as he hasn't defeated an opponent ranked as high as Costa since winning the middleweight title from Chris Weidman back in 2015.
In an interview with BT Sport, Rockhold stated that he's going to channel his inner Israel Adesanya when he faces the Brazilian and plans on making the 31-year-old "quit."
"I've been studying him and obviously how Izzy [Israel Adesanya] treated him to win the fight and where he beat him and threatened him. Once you show him who's the bigger man, he crumbles. This man has hit adversity. This is what I love about this fight. I've dealt with that adversity in the past... I'm not willing to quit. I'm never willing to let a man better me... There's no quit in me, there's never been quit in me. There's quit in Paulo Costa and I'm gonna f*****g find that."
Catch Luke Rockhold's full BT Sport interview here: