Dana White wanted Ronda Rousey to fight for vacant title if she made UFC comeback

Ronda Rousey has revealed Dana White wanted her to fight for gold if she made her MMA comeback through the UFC.

The 39-year-old is making her return to MMA this weekend after a nearly ten-year hiatus.

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Rousey faces fellow women’s MMA trailblazer Gina Carano under Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP).

The event is Netflix’s first venture into mixed martial arts and also features Francis Ngannou‘s comeback, as well as a mouth-watering clash between Mike Perry and Nate Diaz.

UFC’s failed title plan for Rousey

Rousey wanted to make the Carano fight after seeing that the latter had ‘gained an unhealthy amount of weight’ in an interview.

Negotiations followed, but ‘Rowdy’ first contacted White and the UFC in an attempt to return through her old promotion.

Before the emergence of Conor McGregor, Rousey was the UFC‘s first female champion and single-handedly skyrocketed the promotion into a new era, so a comeback with White made complete sense.

However, things didn’t exactly work out, and Rousey soon inked a deal with MVP.

‘Rowdy’ has since spent a large proportion of the build-up to her next fight, blasting the UFC as ‘unrecognisable,’ while also hitting out at bosses like Hunter Campbell, the UFC’s chief business officer.

“Dana wanted me and Gina to fight for the 145lb [women’s bantamweight] title,” Rousey explained on The Ariel Helwani Show this week.

“Because it was vacant and it’s a way to retire the belt.”

Amanda Nunes, the last person to fight Rousey, was the UFC women’s bantamweight champion when she retired from competition in 2023.

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Despite making a comeback to fight Kayla Harrison, Nunes’ old strap hasn’t been put on the line since.

The UFC women’s bantamweight title was effectively dissolved when she retired, and due to a lack of female talent at 145lbs, the promotion has been hoping to collapse the division for good.

Rousey’s beef with the UFC

Rousey explained that Campbell’s reaction to those in the 145lb division during negotiations with the UFC left her furious.

She continued: “And then, Hunter’s like, ‘Yeah, but then we can get rid of that division.’

“Just the way he spoke of it, how dismissive he was and the disdain that he had for the fighters of that weight…

“It just really rubbed me the wrong way that this guy is the person who’s going to be shepherding the company that I helped build…

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“I told Dana, ‘The last thing you want me to do is leave this office p****d off with something to prove.

“Because this motherf****** is p*****g me off and now I have something to prove.’

“Dana [said], ‘I just want you to make as much money as possible, you go do it.'”

Despite the failed negotiations with the UFC, Rousey still has a great relationship with White.

She said the last time she heard from White, he asked if the rumours of a potential boxing clash with Katie Taylor were true.

Rousey added that she reached out to White after agreeing to a contract with MVP to give the UFC CEO a ‘chance to counter’ MVP’s offer.

UFC Schedule

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She called White ‘an incredible friend every step of the way,’ but certainly doesn’t feel the same way about other higher-ups in the UFC.