Dana White has been full of praise for the UFC White House card in public, but Ronda Rousey suspects he may not feel quite so confident about it behind the scenes.
The fight announcement came on Saturday night, with White confirming that Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje will face off in a lightweight title unification bout to headline the historic ‘Freedom 250’ event.
The co-main event is also notable, featuring Alex Pereira against Ciryl Gane as the Brazilian star looks to claim interim gold in a third weight class.
Fans were quick to point out that none of the fights are ones they would have chosen for these fighters, and Rousey thinks White recognises this too. She feels he knows it is not exactly what fans were hoping for.
Ronda Rousey slams UFC White House card, claims Dana White is not a fan either
Despite her long-standing relationship with the 56-year-old businessman, Rousey did not hold back during her first press conference alongside Gina Carano. She took aim at the UFC White House card, saying she believes Dana knows it is not up to standard.
‘Rowdy’ was blunt: “Dana knows the White House card sucks. He knows that they were pushing this for over a year and it fell extremely short of expectations. I mean, he was so upset about it he was talking about a fight falling out the day before.
“I can guarantee you he’s not happy with it either, he’s the one that showed me through example how to speak my mind. It used to be that UFC is the best place that you can come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly.
“Now it is one of the worst places to go, and so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere. It’s why champions like Valentina are selling their t——s on OnlyFans, these people at the ground level, a lot of them are living at poverty levels fighting full time.
“This company just got $7.7 billion, there’s no reason they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage. Not even that, they need to at least match what these athletes are making in other sports.”
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