LOS ANGELES, California, March 10 (Reuters) – Ronda Rousey used the launch of her long-awaited comeback fight to deliver a sweeping broadside against the UFC on Tuesday, accusing the organisation of failing its fighters financially as she announced her May 16 return to MMA against her fellow pioneer in the sport Gina Carano on Netflix.
“It used to be that UFC was the best place you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly,” the 39-year-old Rousey said at a kickoff press conference. “And now it’s one of the worst places to go.”
Rousey – who made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo when she claimed bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games – emphasised her disillusionment with the UFC’s current state.
Her comments follow a week of public disputes, notably Jon Jones’ request to leave the UFC after being excluded from its White House event scheduled for June 14 amid contract disagreements.
“A lot of them (fighters), at the ground level, can’t even support their families. They’re living at poverty level fighting full time.
“And this company just got 7.7 billion dollars. They’re thinking about the next quarter. They’re thinking about the shareholders,” Rousey added.
She was referring to Paramount’s seven-year deal to become the exclusive U.S. broadcaster of all UFC events, ending the traditional pay-per-view model as of January.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, set to face Brazil’s Philipe Lins in the co-main event after a 19-month break from MMA, echoed Rousey’s sentiments.
“We are not an employee. We are independent contractor(s), and we should be able to get what we deserve,” he said. “I’m happy I’m out of that.”
Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Jake Paul, who was also in attendance, was equally blunt, declaring the UFC to be in terminal decline.
“I believe the UFC is dying, and MVP is here to take over,” Paul said. “I believe we have a massive opportunity here to disrupt the whole space and to put fighters first, get them the pay that they deserve.”
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PAUL AND NGANNOU IN FIERY EXCHANGE
The press conference also produced a fiery exchange between Paul and Francis Ngannou, who has just signed with MVP and said he wanted to fight the YouTube-star-turned-boxer.
“I really didn’t want to fight you, but now I want to beat you,” Ngannou said. Paul fired back, saying he was ready to fight. “I’m down. I’ve always been down,” he declared.
The Rousey-Carano match-up will headline Netflix’s first-ever live MMA broadcast, making it the first women’s fight to headline on a major global streaming platform.
The 43-year-old Carano, who has not fought since a 2009 loss to Cris Cyborg, described the return as transformative.
“It’s healing, it’s exciting. It’s everything I could have hoped for. I didn’t know I needed this so bad,” said the American.
Rousey, who will fight for the first time in a decade, said she never expected to compete again after stepping away from the sport and that motherhood had surprisingly reopened the door.
Rousey has two daughters with her husband, former MMA fighter Travis Browne. They were born in 2021 and 2024.
“I never thought I would come back. It didn’t cross my mind at all,” she said. “Once I found that love again, and I saw Gina not doing well, I was like we both need to reclaim our bodily identity together and rewrite our own endings together.”
The event marks boxing promotion company MVP’s debut in MMA after its record-breaking partnership with Netflix, which began with the 2024 Jake Paul v Mike Tyson fight.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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