As noted, Dana White announced the long-awaited Octagon return of mega-star Ronda Rousey against UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes as the main event of UFC 207, their year-end pay-per-view event scheduled for December.
During the announcement, which the UFC President made during his appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd earlier this week, White used an example he often uses when putting Rousey’s level of stardom in perspective to those who aren’t overly familiar with MMA or the UFC.
White pointed out that when Rousey fought Brazilian Women’s fighter Bethe Correia in Brazil, the fans in attendance actually cheered for Rousey over their own hometown fighter.
“Ronda Rousey is a mega-star,” White said. “She’s not even a star. Every time we go to Brazil, all the Brazilians want is for the Brazilians to win. They boo everyone else, no matter what. When Ronda Rousey went down there, she was the biggest, Anderson Silva, any of these guys that were huge stars in Brazil, when we were down there, everyone was cheering for Ronda instead of the Brazilian fighter.”
Additionally, White claimed that if Rousey manages to get past Nunes, who is coincidentally enough a Brazilian fighter as well, the biggest name in the history of Women’s MMA in Brazil — Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino — will be the first person waiting to meet her inside the Octagon.
“I know that Cyborg wants that fight. Ronda wants that fight too. So, Ronda’s plan right now is to come back and win her title back, and if that happens, the Cyborg fight will definitely happen.”
In response to the comments White made about the possibility of the Women’s MMA Dream Match finally happening, as well as his opinion on Rousey’s popularity level in Brazil, Cyborg stated the following to MMAFighting.com.
“I have nothing to say but this. Dana White said Ronda is a mega star and that in Brazil people cheered for her against a Brazilian, so I want this fight at a UFC Rio. The fans deserve this fight in Brazil.”
UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 30th at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Join us here at MMANews.com on 12/30 for live coverage of the pay-per-view.