Ronda Rousey may not be impressed with many people in the world of mixed martial arts, but she’s still very much a fan of UFC CEO Dana White.
Rousey has been making headlines recently off an interview with comedian Bert Kreischer where she trash talked the MMA fanbase, declared Khabib Nurmagomedov ain’t all that, and even dismissed the combat sports expertise of Joe Rogan, who ’never fought.’
But when it comes to Dana White?
“I love him so much,” Rousey declared.
So much so that Rousey credits most of UFC’s success to White, and suggested that the promotion would lose it’s iron grip on the sport the moment he leaves.
“I think without Dana, its soul is gone,” Ronda said of the UFC. “When Dana’s done, I think the dominant MMA organization, that title will be up for grabs. Because I think Dana is it. Without him, it’s just three letters.”
Rousey was later asked to compare UFC’s Dana White to WWE’s Vince McMahon. “Rowdy” had a lot of harsh things to say about McMahon after he was drummed out of the WWE in the wake of his sex trafficking lawsuit, and here she underscored the difference between White’s business acumen and McMahon’s ego-driven approach.
“Dana White wants to be as successful, [wants] his company to be as successful as possible, and make as much money as possible,” she said. “Because I think he’s got a lot to prove in that space. He’s got that new money veneer, he wants to earn his respect in that space with all of his peers.”
“And I think Vince didn’t really care about how successful the company was or how much money he was making. He cared about how much influence he had on other people culturally. He was trying to impress his viewpoint of the world on everybody else through that. The bottom line be damned.”
Asked who she thought was better, Rousey laughed.
“I mean, I’m a capitalist, so Dana,” she said.
