Former champs Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman, Gegard Mousasi, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Yoel Romero (to a lesser extent) have all expressed their displeasure in the UFC’s decision to slide St-Pierre into an immediate middleweight title fight despite having never competed in the division, and oh yeah, the former welterweight king hasn’t fought in over three years.
So their frustration is warranted. But are they surprised the UFC made such a move? The UFC’s new owners, who dropped a whopping $4 billion in July to purchase the MMA powerhouse, wants to make, wait for it … MONEY!
They have to try and recoup that $4B somehow, and what faster way to do that than to arrange “money fights,” even if they don’t make the most sense.