Dana White hasn’t always been the biggest fan of female fighting in mixed martial arts. It isn’t the fact that girls are actually fighting each other, though. It’s just that there hasn’t been much in the way of marketable women who can actually fight when they get in the cage. It’s an understandable viewpoint and one that many critics of the sport share.
But UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta disagrees with White. It’s a rare thing to see the two of them publicly voicing differing opinions on a subject. Fertitta told Ariel Helwani that he believes women’s MMA is a very valid thing and that Ronda Rousey might be the superstar to carry them into a brighter future:
“I’ve never been against it,” Fertitta said. “You know, me and Dana, although we always go on a common front, we don’t always agree on everything. The reality is, I’m a fan. I was captivated by the [Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate] fight, blown away by their athleticism and the way they promoted the fight, the whole thing. To me, it was very, very entertaining.
“Dana is right. Historically there has been an issue with the depth of talent in the talent pool, but it seems to me like that is starting to change and the one argument I make when we talk about it, and this might sound a little self-serving, but we’ve never been in the women’s game, so we’ve never had our matchmakers do this. Let Joe Silva and Sean Shelby develop a women’s league. I guarantee you they can do it. They’re that good.”
“I think (Ronda Rousey) has a tremendous amount of potential,” he said. “She’s got a great personality. She’s got the ability to grab the public’s attention, how she talks, and then she goes in there and backs it up. I mean, it’s almost like Ali when he would go in there and call out the round. It’s that kind of aura about her. I’m really positive on her and Miesha. I was very impressed. I’m happy for them.”
I’m a firm believer that Joe Silva and Sean Shelby can do just about anything they want to do. The thought of them being given three or four years to develop a women’s division for the UFC is an exciting thing.
Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and the rest of the ladies in Strikeforce are eventually going to end up in the UFC. There’s a zero-percent chance that Fertitta and White will allow Bellator or another competitor to pick up Rousey, who is well on her way to becoming a bona fide American sporting superstar.
The smart people over at the Zuffa offices are pretty good with business. Now, more than ever before, female fighting is smart business.
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