Ronda Rousey’s return to MMA didn’t materialize through the UFC, and it wasn’t just business.
Rousey, arguably the most famous female MMA fighter in the history of the sport, makes her return to competition this Saturday in the inaugural MMA event for Most Valuable Promotions – which streams live on Netflix from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Despite being a former UFC champion and one of the promotion’s most important figures, the UFC was not interested in hosting Rousey vs. Gina Carano, at least not under their terms. Rousey has been very vocal about how discontent she was with the UFC over the failed negotiation, but recently revealed there was an extra wrinkle to the situation.
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“It wasn’t personal; well, with Hunter (Campbell) it was personal because he was just a f*cking asshole about it,” Rousey said on “The Ariel Helwani show.” “He was just being such a prick. He was being so dismissive and being like, just trying to get me and Gina to value ourselves less from the get-go, like this isn’t the greatest thing that’s fallen on his lap since he’s f*cking been here.
“He was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. You guys are just so much older, and I just don’t know how it’s going to do.’ I’m like, ‘Who the f*ck is this guy?’ I didn’t even know who he was. They told me he’s the lawyer that’s going to come and show your pay-per-views, and I was like, ‘Fine. I don’t care. I’m going to knock this out of the park.’ I love having my pay be performance-based. F*ck you, I’ll go show you.”
Rousey was further turned off when it was revealed the UFC wanted to use her matchup against Carano as a farewell title fight for the women’s featherweight division.
“Then he started mentioning, because he wanted me and Gina to fight for the 145-pound title because it was vacant, and it’s a way to retire the belt, and then Hunter is like, ‘Yeah, and then we can get rid of that division,'” Rousey said. “Just the way he spoke of it, how dismissive he was, and the disdain he had for the fighters for that weight. My husband is 6’7″. My girls are not going to be 135. This is what you think of women who are heavier than 135 pounds? They can’t offer you anything? They’re worthless? They’re worth scoffing at? It really rubbed me the wrong way.”
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Throughout the buildup of her fight against Carano, Rousey has positioned much of the promotion as MVP MMA vs. UFC. She intends to keep that energy beyond the bout with Carano. She aims to keep working with MVP MMA, while being a thorn in the side of the UFC, but especially its Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell.
“This guy doesn’t have a job because he’s good at it. He has a job because he’s Dana’s and Lorenzo’s lawyer’s son,” Rousey said. “He was a f*cking intern when I was there before, and now he’s coming up to me saying, ‘I don’t know how you and Gina are going to do.’ Motherf*cker, I’m going to put on a bigger fight with Gina than you have your entire f*cking career. Keep trying to fail upwards. Keep trying to suck as many d*cks in the right order. I’m f*cking coming for your job. You pissed off the wrong b*tch.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ronda Rousey: Beef with ‘f*cking asshole’ Hunter Campbell is personal
