Almost a decade removed from her last appearance inside the Octagon, Dana White continues to sing the praises of Ronda Rousey.
Storming into the Octagon in 2013, Rousey quickly established herself as one of the biggest names in all of combat sports. She etched her name in the history books as the first-ever UFC bantamweight women’s world champion and collected 12 highlight-reel finishes throughout her career, most of which came by way of her signature move—the armbar.
During a recent appearance on The Big Podcast with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, White was asked for his all-time favorite fighters to which he quickly replied by placing Rousey right near the top alongside ‘The Iceman’ Chuck Liddel and ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor.
“My two all-time favorites—the two that were the best to deal with were Chuck Liddel and Ronda Rousey. Rousey is the greatest athlete I’ve ever worked with by 100 miles, and then Conor McGregor has been a great athlete to work with,” White said.
While MMA fans have learned to live with the fact that we’ll likely never see Rousey fight again, Conor McGregor is still determined to prove his worth on MMA’s biggest stage. However, getting the Irishman back inside the Octagon has proven to be quite the chore, something White believes can be blamed on the financial freedom ‘Mystic Mac’ has achieved through fighting and other lucrative opportunities.
“The Conor thing is much like Ronda,” White continued. “So many opportunities fell on Ronda because of who she was and her personality and looks. Everything she had as a package, ended up being her downfall—the money and everything else. Ronda went from living in her car to being so extremely wealthy that she doesn’t have to work.
“She doesn’t have to do anything. She’s got three or four houses in great places and all these things and Conor McGregor is 10 times that. When that kind of money becomes involved in the fight business, it’s tough.”
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Dana White Believes Other Women Were Training to Beat Ronda Rousey While ‘Rowdy’ Was Busy Taking on Multiple Opportunities
Rousey’s brutal knockout loss against Holly Holm at UFC 193 is still considered to be one of the greatest upsets in mixed martial arts history. A year later, ‘Rowdy’ came up short against eventual two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes which brought an end to her career in the fight game.
Though Rousey has since blamed a series of concussions dating back to when she was six years old for her lack of evolution in MMA, White believes her immense popularity and willingness to do anything asked of her was the true culprit.
“She ended up becoming so big and so popular that she took on so many different things at the same time. Meanwhile, all the other women in the division were just training to beat Ronda —you break Ronda down and just figure out how to beat her,” White said.
“Ronda took everything on her back and carried it and she would never say no to anything. She’s one of the greatest human beings ever and I love everything about her and I loved my time working with her, not to mention the fact that she’s the one who opened my eyes to women fighting [in the UFC], and look at what you see now.”
Watch the full podcast episode below: