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Ronda Rousey‘s legendary UFC career ended not with a bang, but with a whimper instead.
But UFC president Dana White says the sad end to Rousey’s career wasn’t her fault.
“What happened with Ronda was — Ronda was very unique in that she came in and put this thing on the world stage,” White explained on The Club Shay Shay podcast. “This thing being women fighting. She put it on the world stage at a level that nobody else could have done it. While she was doing what she was doing, building the sport and the UFC and women, all these other women were training to beat her.
“She had taken so much on her shoulders at the time, it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as a fighter during that period.”
Dana White Defends Disappointing End To Ronda Rousey’s UFC Career
Rousey rose to superstar at a time when women’s MMA was in its infancy. As more women entered the octagon with more diverse skill sets, Rousey’s judo was no longer the weapon that it was when she began fighting.
Ultimately, she went out on a two-fight losing streak, with both losses coming via knockout/TKO.
“I was sad that I wouldn’t work with her on a daily basis like we did but I felt like the timing was right,” White said about Rousey’s exit from the UFC. “She had done everything she set out to do. Not just for her and her career but what she did for women in fighting in general.”
Rousey, meanwhile, has gone on a revenge tour of sorts. She’s recently done several interviews targeting anyone and everyone around the UFC, including famed commentator Joe Rogan.
“It was really disappointing to see how happily everybody turned on me and how people like Joe Rogan, who were crying in the ring about the honor of being able to call my fights, people I considered friends in the media so quickly turned on me,” Rousey said recently on The Chris Cuomo Project.
UFC veteran Matt Brown wasn’t having Rousey’s complaints. But it appears White, the company’s figurehead since it began, doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the former superstar.