UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones recently made waves by saying the UFC doesn’t give him the same marketing push afforded to UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Wednesday, Rousey had her chance to respond. On a media teleconference promoting her UFC 170 title defense against Sara McMann on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas, Rousey said she earned her spot through hard work, so she’s okay with the company helping out as well.
“I feel like, I’m owed a little bit of help, damnit,” Rousey said with a laugh that seemed half-joking, half-serious. “I had to do so much to get to this, I’m not going to complain about it.”
Jones, the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighter, noted Rousey’s attention level in a recent interview.
“We don’t always see eye to eye with the UFC,” Jones said. “So I don’t know if they are always necessarily pushing me and whether that’s a smart idea on their end or not, who knows? I do know that they are pushing Ronda Rousey really hard, and she’s gotten a lot of great opportunities. I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I’m pushing myself all the time so, I’m not really worried.”
Rousey, of course, wasn’t an overnight success, as she spent years and years working her way up to the Olympic level in judo with no pay, then had to force her way onto the MMA scene during a time in which the UFC did not promote women’s fighting.
“I don’t know exactly what [Jones] said, but I work really, really hard,” Rousey said. “I might be getting some help from the UFC now and I appreciate all their support, but, to get to this point there’s been a lot of spots where I didn’t have any help at all.”