Dana White Rips Luke Rockhold: You Don’t Deserve Anything

In mixed martial arts, some fighters are quite verbal, willing to speak their mind and say whatever it takes in order to get what they want. Other fighters, on the other hand, are willing to remain quiet and are content with letting their fighting speak for them.

Demian Maia, the No. 3-ranked welterweight contender in the world, is a fighter completely against trash talking. He doesn’t say much, but he has quietly racked up seven consecutive victories, most recently scoring a split-decision win over No. 6-ranked Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 this past weekend (May 13, 2017) in Dallas, Texas.

After the victory, Maia knelt before UFC President Dana White, begging for the title shot he so obviously deserved. White appeared to grant the Brazilian grappling guru his wish, saying after the event that ‘Maia earned it.’

While being verbal has seemed to help some fighters in today’s day and age, White also said that some fighters feel as if they deserve everything. The UFC boss specifically noted former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who hasn’t competed since being knocked out by Michael Bisping last June, but recently voiced his displeasure with the UFC’s matchmaking in the 185-pound division:

“Listen, I was thinking about this when I talked to some of the media here yesterday: A lot of the guys are talking about deserve, deserve, nobody deserves anything. You have to earn it here, you know what I’m saying?” explained White during the post fight presser.

“These guys want to sit around, you got Rockhold screaming, “I deserve this…’ you got knocked out in the first round, you don’t deserve anything, you have to earn it and Maia earned it,” he added. 

While Rockhold may have a point, as Bisping has experienced quite a strange title reign since winning the title, perhaps White is on to something here. The UFC has seemed to have strayed away from a rankings system in recent memory, making some question the legitimacy of the sport.

Maia receiving a title shot, however, could once again validate the UFC as a legitimate league. While being more verbal could have certainly propelled him to a title shot faster, the soft spoken and humble Maia has stuck to his guns, refusing to drift away from the values and morals that are buried so deeply inside of him. Instead, he’s taken out each contender the UFC has put in front of him since May 2014, submitting three of them.

Now, reigning welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has unsurprisngly expressed interest in fighting other marquee names in an attempt to land the most lucrative matchup possible, but it seems as if Maia is the next challenger in line and as White said, he earned it.

What do you make of White’s comments? Do you feel as if Rockhold should take a different approach in landing a big fight, or is it reasonable that he would attempt to follow the lead of the many stars who have increased their verbal output in MMA over the last few years?