Ronda Rousey says the UFC ‘used to be anti-establishment, and now it’s become the establishment’
Ronda Rousey wants to shake the UFC out of its stupor.
Next month, Rousey returns to MMA for the first time in nearly a decade when she fights Gina Carano in the main event of MVP MMA 1. In the pre-fight press conference for the event last month, Rousey was more critical of the UFC than she had ever been, saying the promotion had stagnated and was resting on its laurels. And behind the scenes, she was even harsher.
In a video posted on her YouTube account on Friday, Rousey revealed new behind-the-scenes footage of her before the MVP MMA 1 press conference, where she again ripped into the UFC.
“I feel like we’re in a crossroads for the sport, and this is the beginning of a big change that is long overdue,” Rousey said. “I meant it when I said that the UFC is suffering from a lack of competition. They’ve become too comfortable with being the dominant force in the industry, and just making fighters offers where they go, ‘Take it or leave it, what else are you going to do?’
“It used to be that UFC was the best way to make money in combat sports. Now it’s becoming the worst place to make money in combat sports. It used to be anti-establishment, and now it’s become the establishment. And I’ve always been an ‘anti’ kind of bitch. [Laughs]
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a company woman, and was very grateful while I was there, but I feel like since they’ve taken the reigns away from Dana they’ve really lost their way, and they think that they’re too big to fail, and that they can just disappoint the fans over and over, and they don’t care how many casual fans they lose, because they’ve got their streaming, and ‘F*ck you, we got ours.’
“I think they need to be reminded of the precariousness of their situation, and they need to start appreciating the fighters that give everything that they do any value at all. I think that they’ve forgotten that, and I’m coming to remind them.”
MVP MMA 1 takes place on May 16 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
