Ronda Rousey says she’s got big plans for MMA beyond her return to the octagon.
The former UFC bantamweight champion is set to make her first appearance in nearly ten years when she headlines the inaugural Netflix card on May 16.
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She’ll be facing Gina Carano, another trailblazer in women’s MMA, on a night that also features comebacks from Francis Ngannou and Nate Diaz.
While this bout is expected to be Rousey’s last, she has no intention of stepping away from the sport completely.
Ronda Rousey believes she can help grow MMA in new role
Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
The 39-year-old has also been outspoken about her former employer, taking issue with the UFC’s contract structure and questioning Hunter Campbell’s influence within the organisation.
She now plans to carve out a similar role under the Most Valuable Promotions banner, claiming she has more experience to lead the sport than Campbell.
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And if she does land a leadership position at MVP MMA, Rousey says her first order of business would be to move away from title-focused matchmaking and put more emphasis on fighter storylines.
“The point should be great fights,” Rousey told Sibley Scoles on ALL THE SMOKE FIGHT. “Who really cares about a title?
“I would love to do through MVP — if we continued to do this — is make every single person at home a matchmaker. What fight do you want to see next? Who do you think would match up great? Put on great fights for the sake of great fights.
“Titles and belts are almost constricting or they force fights that aren’t really great matchups. It should be about the fight itself,” she added.
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“The future of the sport is not titles or brands. It’s these showcase fights. When you see people that are characters that stand out, that know how to captivate people, that’s something that needs to be nourished.”
Ronda Rousey outlines plans for pension fund and health insurance in MMA
But Rousey’s ideas go beyond the competitive side of the sport.
She spoke about setting up a fighters’ pension fund and providing health insurance during an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“If I was calling the shots, I would say, ‘Hey, let’s take a dollar from every ticket sale and put it towards a pension fund. Hey, every time someone fights for us, let’s give them health insurance for the next year. And if they’re fighting for us continuously, then they continue having health insurance.’
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“I can enact the kind of changes that I would want to see a union do from the inside. From being in a position to be able to make those decisions.
“A union is a lot of work, and fighters are very conflict-oriented, you know what I mean? I feel like these things like the PI and the super gyms, it’s kind of fracturing the family around the fighters,” she added.
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