Dana White has made it no secret that he is a huge fan of Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Not only has he been seen sporting a Rousey t-shirt during UFC events, he’s also been seen out atten0ding TV show premiers with the female MMA star.
On Saturday night, following the UFC on Fuel 5 event in Nottingham, England, White took a step further and said that he would “absolutely” have Rousey fight in the UFC—becoming the first woman in the promotion’s history to do so.
During the post-fight media scrum, the UFC president reiterated that he still did not believe that there were enough talented women MMA fighters to create a whole division, but he could foresee a one off event with Rousey on the card:
“There’s no secret, I’ve been pretty honest about my feelings for Ronda Rousey,” said White. “I think she’s f****** awesome. I think she’s mean, I think she’s nasty. And she’s a real fighter and I like watching her fight. So I think there’s going to be fun fights with Ronda.”
“You’ve got Cyborg, and if she could move down or Ronda could move up. Whatever happens there, there are still some fun fights for Ronda and some of the other women too.”
“You’d have to do some one offs. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens, I mean they fight for Strikeforce, we’ll see what happens. I’ve said publicly, I would absolutely positively bring Ronda Rousey into the UFC. Yes.”
Rousey burst onto the MMA scene last year, going undefeated in four fights and talking her way to a title shot against Miesha Tate in Strikeforce. Rousey made short work of her opponent, finishing Tate with her trademark armbar in the first round and going on to become a superstar of the sport.
It’s a feat that has not failed to capture the attention of White, who believes she’s accomplished in one year what few in the men’s game have ever accomplished.
“She’s already done things we couldn’t get done,” White told the press in Nottingham. “I mean she’s been on talk shows we could never f****** get on. She’s done magazines and sold covers of magazines… I heard she was the best-selling cover of ESPN the Body Issue… My point is, she is one of those breakthrough stars and you guys saw I went to the Sons of Anarchy premier with her. We got out of the car, the whole f****** place erupted. Like she was on the show or something.”
Rousey’s last fight was her first title defence against Sarah Kaufman back in August. Since then, the former Olympian has pulled no punches in calling out fallen star of women’s MMA, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.
The two are undoubtedly the biggest names in women’s MMA, with Cyborg still considered by many the best pound-for-pound female fighter in the world.
With the interest White is showing in Rousey, and the hype the two fighters are generating, there is every possibility you might see a Rousey vs. Cyborg match on a UFC card.
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