At yesterday’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano press conference, ‘Rowdy’ was only too eager to criticize what she believes is the UFC’s weakened business model now that it’s moved on from pay-per-view to streaming on Paramount+.
“Once they moved into the streaming model, it’s just not about putting on the best fights possible anymore,” Rousey told reporters during the presser. “Dana White is legally beholden to the shareholders and to maximize shareholder value. And now, unfortunately, now that they’ve taken the reigns of the company away from him, it’s barely recognizable now. And they need to be saved from themselves. And luckily, I’m here to be their hero.”
Up until this point Rousey and White have appeared to have a good relationship through the years, and the former UFC strawweight champion stresses that she doesn’t believe the current problems are down to the UFC CEO.
“I think most of my criticisms of the UFC now is because Dana isn’t the owner and he isn’t calling the shots and he isn’t running things the way that he wants because he’s an employee of the company now. He’s not an owner and I think it was a big mistake of theirs to not let him just run things the way that he always has,” Rousey said.
“It used to be that UFC was the best place you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly. And now it’s no longer. It’s one of the worst places to go. It’s why so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions like Valentina [Shevchenko]are selling pictures of their titties on Only Fans. [Editor note: Shevchenko has since pointed out that’s not the case].
“These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t support their families. They’re living poverty level fighting full-time. And this company just got $7.7 billion. Like, there’s no reason that they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage. And not even that, to be able to match what these athletes are making in other sports. Why would they expect to get the best athletes and the best aspiring kids that want to be something into MMA? Why not go into football? Why not go into boxing? Why not go into anything else? So, they’re bleeding talent because of their short-term greed.
“They’re thinking about the next quarter. They’re thinking about the shareholders and not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the future of the sport.”
Meanwhile, Jake Paul, who’s MVP company is the promoter for the Rousey vs. Carano fight, has also been taking shots at the UFC.
“I think it’s been tough for them to create stars and the fights that they want for how little they’re willing to spend,” Paul said of the UFC during an interview with Fight Hub TV. “So, they’re kind of at a bottleneck, and I think that’s why we’ve seen fights that people aren’t super excited about and the biggest stars in the sport like Jon Jones and Conor McGregor fighting on a consistent basis. And that’s what made them so great in the beginning of their business was just massive amazing fights all the time. Now, they’re just not willing to spend money.”
Paul went further later in the conversation as he criticised the UFC: White House card and declared his belief that the UFC is actually ‘dying’.
“I think the White House itself will be the star. I was disappointed by the card,” Paul said. “Like I think many fans were just because there was such high expectations. I think if they weren’t hyping it for so long, then maybe if they just announced it randomly then people would be happy. But they just made it seem like it was going to be the greatest card of all time. And it certainly isn’t.
“MMA is in a weird position right now and it’s the Wild West and 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 platform that they deserve because I believe the UFC is dying and MVP is here to take over.”
