UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey appeared on Thursday’s Good Morning America for an interview with host Robin Roberts. She talked about the state of MMA in New York and some misconceptions about the sport.
Karim Zidan of Bloody Elbow passed along comments from Rousey about New York not allowing professional MMA events, including the UFC, to take place. She discussed the safety issues involved with the current approach taken by the state [sic]:
MMA isn’t actually banned. It is professional MMA that is banned. I think around 1600 New Yorkers competed in MMA in New York just this past year but only in amateur events. There is no athletic commission to do any sort of medical testing for them, no drug testing; the women that competed had no pregnancy tests, and even the referees aren’t educated. It is the most dangerous place in the U.S. to do MMA. It anyone gets hurt, it will be on the politicians who didn’t take steps to protect them.
Rousey also gave her thoughts about how women are viewed in the MMA world. She believes most of the outside arguments don’t hold water: “There are so many ridiculous arguments that MMA is somehow anti-woman. Fighting is not a man’s thing, it is a human thing. To say that it is anti-woman is an anti-feminist statement. I’m the biggest draw in the sport and I’m a woman. How is it anti-woman?”
Here’s the complete interview, via The Entertainment Place:
Rousey has indeed become a major attraction for the UFC. She’s one of the most dominant figures in sports with 11 straight victories to begin her career. All but one of those were achieved in the first round, and her last two fights lasted a combined 30 seconds.
Opening the door to fights in New York, especially New York City, would obviously be beneficial to the UFC. The Bloody Elbow report notes it’s the only state that hasn’t come up with an agreement to allow professional MMA.
Rousey is clearly trying to help bring change during her current media tour.
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