Over the years, many promotions tried to compete with Dana White‘s UFC, and while some of them tried to do their best to overtake the Las Vegas-based promotion, they failed miserably. There are still other avenues for fighters besides the UFC, but none of them can carry out their operations in the manner that the UFC does. Recently, a few businessmen tried to put on an ambitious project to rival the biggest MMA promotion in the world, but failed before it could take off, and former champion Luke Rockhold was supposed to be a part of it.

During a recent interview, Luke Rockhold offered his unfiltered take on the ambitious GFL project. The Global Fight League had a unique take on mixed martial arts. They had a team-based format, an atomweight division, and a more fighter-centric business model, which is something that fighters have been begging for years. The GFL even promised to offer insurance benefits to the fighters as well, but Rockhold claims that this was never going to happen, anyway.

The former middleweight champion claimed to have been critical of this new alternative to Dana White’s UFC and thought it was a sketchy offer. While the money was good, Luke Rockhold got overwhelmed by their proposal for a draft and their unique format. He was scheduled to fight fellow former champion Chris Weidman, but it was later called off due to financial constraints, much like the other fights the GFL has planned as well. Meanwhile, the former UFC middleweight champion claims that it was he who decided not to take the promotion’s offer.

“There wasn’t one conversation I had with my managers that wasn’t like skeptical. ‘Just enjoy the money,’ you know, ‘Do this, do that.’ I didn’t even really want to do interviews because I knew it was just bulls–t,” Luke Rockhold told MMA Fighting during a recent interview. “They had that big launch thing, right? There was the draft. They tried to get me on there. I was like, ‘This is not it. Keep the money.'”

Moreover, Luke Rockhold also shared an important piece of advice to the fighters who tend to believe that there’s another platform that can pay them the same way Dana White and Co. do in the UFC. While cautioning them to curb their expectations, the former champion mentioned that a lot of them were in on the idea after getting a look at their paychecks. Well, in the end, nothing materialized at all. “People were hopeful, you know. People saw these big, big paychecks, and they were just like they wanted to believe it’s real, but people need to have more reality… You ain’t paying these guys that much money,” Rockhold added.

While some people are hoping to see someone end the UFC’s monopoly in the MMA world, it appeared that Dana White wasn’t surprised when the GFL could not kick off its endeavor. Let’s take a look at what the 56-year-old UFC CEO had to say.

Dana White already knew what it took to get a promotion running

The GFL’s ambitious project was never going to be an easy one to carry out. Dana White has been at the helm of the MMA’s biggest promotion for over a couple of decades. He’s been through the highs and the lows and understands what it took to get fights set up and get events rolling. While he didn’t have anything to say about the GFL’s failure, White reiterated the fact that it’s never easy to start a promotion.

“I don’t know enough about the GFL to really speak on it. But yeah, it’s a lot harder than it looks,” Dana White stated at the UFC 315 post-fight presser. “I don’t know what else to say about that.” The UFC CEO added, “Obviously, anywhere where these guys can go and make money [while] they’re on the way up or on the way down is a great thing. But I don’t pay attention to any of that stuff anymore.”

Well, it appears that the only other avenue for MMA fighters besides Dana White’s promotion is the PFL. Or maybe they’d like a crack at bare-knuckle. After all, Conor McGregor and Co. are throwing down some serious money in an upcoming $25 million tournament, so maybe that works out for the fighters who’re looking to secure a good paycheck and an association with a top promotion. Regardless, let us know what you think about the GFL’s failure in the comments down below.