May 5, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; UFC president Dana White (right) poses with Strikeforce MMA female champion Ronda Rousey during a bout between Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck during UFC on Fox 3 at the Izod Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has seen people begin to turn on her thanks to the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, but UFC president Dana White is not worried about the public perception. White continues to defend his champ and makes it clear that she is the woman who opened his eyes to women’s mixed martial arts.
White was previously a doubter and said that there would never be women fighting in the UFC, but after meeting Rousey his mind was changed.
In fact, White recently reiterated that all of the women in the UFC have Rousey to thank, because they wouldn’t be where they were if it wasn’t for her.
“It’s not the way she portrayed herself; it’s who she is. It’s why women fight in the UFC, because of her. I could care less if you don’t like her or you like her. It doesn’t matter to me,” White said at the UFC Fight Night 32 post-fight scrum, via Bloody Elbow.
“She’s the world champion, she’s badass, and she goes out to win. We were talking about it when we were flying here on the plane. One of our financial guys was basically asking if the women’s division would have got started without [Ronda Rousey]. I said, “We wouldn’t have done it without Ronda. I wouldn’t have even done it without Ronda. You could line up all the greatest girls on earth from here to f**king Pluto. And she’s the one that when I met her, I said this chick is insanely competitive and just a different animal. She’s what it took to get women in the UFC. Hate her or not, the reason all these girls fight in the UFC is because of her. ”
Rousey will be able to get fans back on her side in December, when she faces off against Miesha Tate in the co-main event of UFC 168.
The last time the two women faced off, Rousey was victorious via — you guessed it — first-round armbar. She will hope to make another statement win and show the world that she is clearly the best female fighter on the planet and love her or hate her, she’s not going anywhere.
Topics: Dana White, Ronda Rousey, UFC, WMMA
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Josh majored in journalism at Seton Hill University and is currently Editor-in-Chief for FanSided.com and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Prior to joining FanSided.com as editor, Josh was senior editor at NFLSpinZone.com, TheLandryHat.com, CagePages.com and NFLMocks.com. His work has been featured on various media outlets including: ESPN.com, SportsIllustrated.com, NFL.com, FOXSports.com and CBSSports.com. You can e-mail Josh at joshsanchez@gmail.com
Source:
http://fansided.com/2013/11/11/dana-white-ronda-rousey-reason-women-ufc/