Despite Conor’s record-breaking PPV numbers, Dana still prefers Ronda…
Dana White’s critics love to harp on his giving preferential treatment to certain fighters. As a fight promoter, White will naturally show favoritism towards athletes who can make him money, but this provides fuel for haters nonetheless.
Dana White doesn’t just have his favorite fighters however, he also has his favorite fighter amongst all of his favorite fighters. That fighter’s name is Ronda Rousey.
One would think that the UFC’s current Golden Goose, Conor McGregor, would rank higher than Rousey on this totem pole, but this doesn’t appear to be the case. While Ronda’s popularity opened the door for women’s MMA in UFC, the revenue she earned for the company falls short of what Conor has done.
The UFC President recently explained his reasoning for preferring Ronda over Conor:
Dana White on Ronda’s International Stardom
Even though Conor McGregor’s PPV revenue generated is greater, White contends that Rousey was, and still is, the bigger star.
“Ronda Rousey is such a big star that when you go down to Brazil – I don’t know if you guys have watched any of the fights we do from Brazil — they don’t care who you are. They want the Brazilian to whoop your ass. When Ronda went down there, they cheered for Ronda over the Brazilian. Never seen that before in my life and will probably never see it again. That’s how big Ronda Rousey is.”
White is referring to Ronda’s fight against Bethe Correia at UFC 190 when the live crowd in Brazil cheered for Rousey both at the fight and during pre-fight media events.
Dana is placing greater value on the amount of crossover appeal Rousey has versus the amount of crossover appeal Conor has. While Conor is a big superstar, Ronda transcends sport more as a pop-culture icon.
Dana White on Ronda Being UFC’s “Mike Tyson”
Dana White was recently asked who the UFC’s “Mike Tyson” was. White took the question to mean who was the most dominant champion in the company’s history. His answer was once again, Ronda Rousey. Here is what White had to say:
“Our Tyson was Ronda, man,” White said. “Ronda had this aura of invincibility that we’ve never seen before. That’s why everyone was calling Ronda our Mike Tyson because she was the most dominant athlete on the planet. Conor (McGregor) is different. Conor is completely different than a Tyson – his verbal game, his picking the round.”
In terms of “aura of invincibility”, the ability to compare champions gets murky. If we are talking straight title defenses, nobody can argue Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, and George St. Pierre are the top dogs in the category. In terms of how beatable each feels or felt while champion, that is harder to determine.
It certainly felt as though nobody would defeat Anderson Silva for most of his 10-defence title run. Nobody did manage to do it while he was in his prime either. We’ve still seen no reason to believe Jon Jones is beatable now that he has fully returned. From Ronda’s debut until her loss to Holly Holm, however, she more than anyone else who came before her, felt truly unstoppable.
