Ronda Rousey has insisted her and UFC President Dana White‘s conflicting views on presidential candidate Donald Trump won’t get in the way of their working relationship, saying “politics isn’t part of our conversations.”
Speaking to TMZ Sports this weekend after venturing out for the first time in the public eye since her UFC 193 defeat to Holly Holm, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion suggested there are certain topics her and White won’t discuss:
UFC figurehead White recently told TMZ Sports of his support for Trump, who has backed his MMA promotion in the past (h/t MMA Mania‘s Adrian MacNair):
Donald Trump was the first one to have us come out of the Trump Taj Mahal. Not only did we host the events there, he actually showed up and supported the events. You will never hear me say a negative thing about Donald Trump.
[…]
Donald will get my vote.
Rousey and Trump have had an indirect head-to-head in the past, and the cage fighter told CNN back in August she wouldn’t give the Republican her vote, per TMZ Sports: “I wouldn’t vote for [Trump]. I just really wouldn’t trust the guy with running my country, that’s all … I’m not really going to get into specifics of it, but, I mean, I don’t want a reality TV star to be running my country.”
Those comments may have, in part, fuelled Trump’s decision to revel in Rousey’s shock defeat to Holm via a second-round knockout in November, tweeting he was “glad to see” the 28-year-old lose:
In the wake of her surprise loss to Holm, Rousey was served with a potential 180-day medical suspension, meaning her earliest possible target for a rematch will be May 2016, although White has suggested a date of July 9 at UFC 200.
Holm hopes for an earlier bout, proclaiming “I don’t want to wait that long,” per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), but the UFC’s desire to draw hype for a second clash is likely to mean those wishes could go unfulfilled.
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