Ronda Rousey has turned her comeback tour right into a direct shot on the UFC’s fashionable enterprise mannequin, utilizing a current press occasion for her Gina Carano struggle to torch the promotion over pay, matchmaking and its new streaming period priorities.
The previous UFC bantamweight champion is returning to MMA below Jake Paul’s Most Beneficial Promotions banner, together with her long-discussed matchup in opposition to Gina Carano scheduled to headline Netflix’s first live MMA card on Could 16 at Intuit Dome in California, promoted as a legacy conflict between two of the unique stars of girls’s MMA.
Ronda Rousey blasts $7.7B UFC, says fighters can’t even earn a dwelling wage
Rousey has mentioned she initially tried to make the Carano bout with the UFC and personally reached out to Dana White, however talks collapsed as soon as the promotion’s new broadcast deal and inner monetary construction got here into play.
In explaining why the struggle didn’t land on a UFC card, Rousey framed your complete breakdown as a consequence of the promotion’s shift from pay-per-view to an all‑in streaming partnership reportedly price round 7.7 billion {dollars} with Paramount, which eliminated conventional PPV upside for stars and positioned tighter emphasis on mounted prices and shareholder returns.
“As soon as [UFC] moved into the streaming mannequin, it’s simply not about placing on the most effective fights potential anymore. Dana is legally beholden to the shareholders and to maximise shareholder worth. Sadly, now that they’ve taken the reins of the corporate away from [Dana White], it’s barely recognizable now.”
That criticism tracks with feedback Rousey has already made in interviews, the place she mentioned the UFC “didn’t need to set a precedent” by giving her the assured purse she felt she and Carano deserved as a result of it may “increase that tide” for the remainder of the roster throughout the lifetime of the Paramount deal.
In keeping with Rousey, the promotion’s new incentives favour “value‑efficient” struggle playing cards over the largest potential matchups, since blockbuster ensures would reduce into the margins anticipated by its company possession and public shareholders.
“The UFC is likely one of the worst locations to go. So lots of their high athletes are leaving to seek out pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions like Valentina [Shevchenko] are promoting footage of their titties on OnlyFans.”
Her jab at Valentina Shevchenko performs into a live debate round fighter pay and secondary revenue streams, with a number of UFC names in recent times turning to subscription platforms and sponsorship-heavy social media to complement what they earn within the cage.
Rousey’s argument is that, in an period when the corporate has locked in long-term media cash, the monetary stress ought to ease on athletes on the backside and center of playing cards as a substitute of pushing them in direction of content material aspect hustles.
“This firm simply received $7.7 billion. There’s no motive they will’t afford to pay their athletes not less than a dwelling wage.”
The 7.7‑billion determine she cites aligns with studies of the UFC’s new broadcast deal worth and has grow to be a key speaking level amongst critics who say fighter income has not saved tempo with the promotion’s media and sponsorship haul. Former featherweight champion Cris Cyborg just lately backed Rousey’s evaluation, saying the UFC’s refusal to regulate its income mannequin after shifting to ESPN after which into its Paramount streaming period was a significant component in her departure to Bellator, the place she signed what was described as the largest contract in girls’s MMA on the time.
Rousey has additionally linked her pay criticism to the UFC’s current matchmaking, zeroing in on the much-hyped 2026 White Home card. That occasion, formed round political spectacle and company milestones, has already been hit with fan pushback over a skinny lineup and the absence of a number of of the promotion’s greatest names.
Jon Jones has been publicly lobbying for a slot on the cardboard after beforehand strolling away from a proposed heavyweight title bout with Tom Aspinall, whereas Dana White has pushed again, citing belief points after Jones turned down a large supply for that struggle. Conor McGregor, in the meantime, has been coaching as if he’ll characteristic in Washington based on John Kavanagh, however no official bout has been introduced, including to the sense of uncertainty across the promotion’s supposed tremendous‑card.
With heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall reacting coolly to Ciryl Gane’s inclusion on the White Home present and Jones watching from the surface, the narrative across the UFC’s matchmaking has shifted from dominance to disarray, with Francis Ngannou’s exit to boxing and PFL nonetheless looming over the division’s current historical past. In that context, Rousey’s feedback hit multiple nerve: she is attacking fighter pay, however she can also be suggesting that the monetary logic of the Paramount period is warping how the UFC builds playing cards, who will get pushed, and the way typically followers really see the largest fights obtainable.
“I assure you he’s not pleased with it both.”
As she prepares to face Carano in a Netflix predominant occasion powered by an upstart rival promotion, Rousey is positioning herself as a cautionary story and a warning shot, arguing that when a 7.7‑billion greenback firm is not going to meet the value for one of many greatest fights in girls’s MMA historical past, the message to the remainder of the roster is inconceivable to disregard.
