Ronda Rousey blasts ‘barely recognisable’ UFC as she lifts lid on Gina Carano fight offer

Ronda Rousey had some choice words for the UFC at the launch press conference for her comeback fight.

The former UFC bantamweight champion is set to return to the cage for the first time in a decade on May 16 to face fellow women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano under Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP).

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Before MVP made an offer to stage the event, live on Netflix, Rousey presented the bout to UFC president Dana White.

The UFC were keen to play host to the super fight, and made an offer while they were still operating under their old pay-per-view model with ESPN.

However, following their switch to streaming service Paramount + in a seven-year deal, worth a reported $7.7billion, Rousey insists the UFC became a bad fit.

“I have much love and respect for Dana [White]. I wanted to bring this to him first,” said Rousey.

“I said, ‘I know I can do this on my own, but I’d rather do this for you than just for me’.

“We were going to do it on New Year’s; it was going to be the last fight on the pay-per-view model, and I was so grateful.

“But Gina said she needed more time to get into the best shape possible and be the best version of herself, and that was fate and meant to be.

“Once the UFC moved into the streaming model, it’s not about putting on the best fights possible anymore.

“Dana is legally beholden to the shareholders and to maximise shareholder value.

“Unfortunately, now they’ve taken the reins of the company away from him, it’s barely recognisable now.

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“They need to be saving themselves, and luckily, I’m here to be their hero…

“I let Dana know before anybody else that I’d gone to Netflix, and I didn’t want him to be upset with me.

“He said, ‘I could never be upset with you, I want you to do great, I want you to be successful’.

“He’s been my friend first before anything else, and I think that most of my criticisms of the UFC now are because Dana isn’t running things the way he wants because he’s an employee of the company now, not the owner.”

Rousey then launched into a lengthy tirade over UFC fighter pay.

Rousey blasts ‘poverty level’ UFC pay

“It used to be that the UFC was the best place that you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly. Now, it’s one of the worst places to go,” Rousey added.

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“It’s why so many of their top athletes are going to find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions, like Valentina [Shevchenko], are selling pictures of their t***** on OnlyFans.

“These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t even support their families and are living at poverty-level fighting full-time.

“This company just got $7.7 billion! There is no reason why they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage.

“Not even that, to at least be able to match what these athletes are making in other sports.

“Why would they expect to get the best athletes and aspiring kids that want to be something into MMA? Why not go into football, boxing, or anything else?

“They are bleeding talent because of their short-term greed. They are thinking about the next quarter.

“They are thinking about the shareholders. They are not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the sport.”