If you’ve been wondering why UFC 207 headliner Ronda Rousey has been ditching the mixed martial arts (MMA) media we may now have an answer. Rousey has a women’s bantamweight title bout with champion Amanda Nunes on Dec. 30.
It’s protocol for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters to attend media events. This is especially true for headliners involved in title bouts. Unless you are considered a star, most of your appearances will be with the MMA media.
This hasn’t applied to “Rowdy” who has given MMA journalists the cold shoulder. A longform from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne (via Bloody Elbow) revealed Rousey reached a bout agreement, which allowed her to limit her media appearances leading up to UFC 207.
Here is a quote from the report:
“In April 2015, the sport made headlines when another of its stars, McGregor, refused to attend a news conference. White responded by pulling him from the UFC 200 card.
Rousey watched it unfold from afar. When she saw McGregor a month later, at a Bud Light commercial taping in Las Vegas, she pulled him aside and offered some advice. ‘Instead of trying to handle everything at once, while it’s coming at you, just trying to reach an agreement beforehand,’ she told him.
Rousey did the same when she negotiated her terms for UFC 207. She would limit her publicity to a few high-profile interviews with people of her choosing, a day of filming at the gym in Glendale and a staredown with Nunes at UFC 205, a bout that McGregor would headline in New York in November.”
With a heavy emphasis on the return of Rousey over Nunes’ title defense, it’s clear the UFC is shooting for the mainstream crowd with this event. With Rousey nowhere to be found, the MMA media has been left with little to work with.
It’ll be interesting to see if Rousey interacts with the MMA media regardless of the result of her title bout.
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