Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey used to be the face of the Las Vegas based fight promotion. She became one of the company’s biggest stars but she no longer recognizes the organization today.
When the UFC inked a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, Rousey believes the promotion lost its way.
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“Once they moved into the streaming model, it’s just not about putting on the best fights possible anymore. Dana [White] is legally beholden to the shareholders and to maximize shareholder value. And now, unfortunately, now that they’ve taken the reigns of the company away from him, it’s barely recognizable now. And they need to be saved from themselves. And luckily, I’m here to be their hero,” Rousey said during the Rousey vs. CaranoKickoff Press Conference on Tuesday.
Rousey went to UFC CEO Dana White and pitched the fight with Gina Carano. Unable to reach a ‘respectable deal,’ Rousey and Carano landed with Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix.
“I think most of my criticisms of the UFC now is because Dana isn’t the owner and he isn’t calling the shots and he isn’t running things the way that he wants because he’s an employee of the company now. He’s not an owner and I think it was a big mistake of theirs to not let him just run things the way that he always has,” said Rousey.
“It used to be that UFC was the best place you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly. And now it’s no longer. It’s one of the worst places to go. It’s why so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions like Valentina [Shevchenko] are selling pictures of their titties on Only Fans,” continued Rousey.
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“These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t support their families. They’re living poverty level fighting full-time. And this company just got $7.7 billion. Like, there’s no reason that they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage. And not even that, to be able to match what these athletes are making in other sports. Why would they expect to get the best athletes and the best aspiring kids that want to be something into MMA? Why not go into football? Why not go into boxing? Why not go into anything else? So, they’re bleeding talent because of their short-term greed.
“They’re thinking about the next quarter. They’re thinking about the shareholders and not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the future of the sport.”
