After all is said and done, Ronda Rousey is still the biggest UFC superstar in Dana White's book.
It has been almost a year since Ronda Rousey last saw action in the Octagon. And from the time of her absence, it has been Conor McGregor who has been raking in the numbers.
In terms of pay-per-view buys alone, "The Notorious" was able to help set the record for the UFC last August 20th at UFC 202. That event, which featured his rematch against Nate Diaz, reportedly garnered 1.65 million buys, setting a record for a non-boxing pay-per-view event. For the said card, McGregor earned a disclosed amount of $3 million.
Over the last two years, the comparison of who the UFC’s biggest draw really is has been between McGregor and Rousey. But for Dana White, the former women’s 135-pound champion is still the ultimate UFC megastar.
"By far," White said in an interview with Hot 97. "By far, the biggest star, ever. Ronda Rousey is such a big star that when you go down to Brazil - I don't know if you guys have watched any of the fights we do from Brazil — they don't care who you are. They want the Brazilian to whoop your ass."
"When Ronda went down there, they cheered for Ronda over the Brazilian. Never seen that before in my life and will probably never see it again. That's how big Ronda Rousey is."
White considers Rousey’s UFC debut in 2013 against Liz Carmouche as a "huge monumental moment for sports". It was a decision, which he says was an eye-opener for him.
"Everyone heard the famous TMZ words from me, ‘When will women fight in the UFC?’ I said, ‘Never.’ Then I met Ronda Rousey, sat down and we talked. Fifteen minutes into a 45-minute conversation, I was like ‘Holy sh-t, I think I’m gonna do this. I think she’s the one.’"
"Then I went out and I made her the main event down in Anaheim, California for an event that we did over Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida, and people went crazy. ‘You’re gonna put women above these legends? This is a disgrace.’ And that’s when it really opened my eyes."
"When you always talk about women not getting equal pay, women not getting equal rights. That was when I was really like ‘Holy sh-t! I didn’t expect this.’"
Rousey was reportedly offered a fight against Amanda Nunes for UFC 207 on December 30th in Las Vegas. As of this posting, nothing has been made final.
