The target: The UFC, which helped turn Rousey into a superstar.
She ripped the company for underpaying its athletes and cited legendary fighter Valentina Shevchenko, currently No. 1 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, as an example.
“It’s why there are champions like Valentina are selling pictures… on OnlyFans,’’ Rousey said.
Rousey also said UFC is losing athletes because the company continues to underpay its fighters despite having signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount+, which this year became the UFC’s new streaming partner.
“Why not go into anything else?’’ Rousey said of UFC fighters during a press conference to promote her fight against Carano. “And so they’re bleeding talents because of their short-term greed. They’re thinking about the next quarter.
‘They’re thinking about the shareholders and they’re not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the future of the sport.’’
Rousey also said the MMA promotion has been damaged by the corporation taking away power from longtime UFC CEO Dana White.
The fight between Rousey and Carano might be the most watched in MMA history; Rousey indicated she hopes that impacts the UFC, which she said is “not about putting on the best fights’’ and added that “they need to be saved from themselves.’’
Rousey, 39, will be fighting for the first time in a decade. The bout, to be held at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, will be livestreamed by Netflix and promoted by Most Valuable Promotions, co-founded by Jake Paul.
But Rousey said she originally wanted the fight to be held under the UFC’s auspices and was negotiating with White. But a plan to hold the fight on New Year’s fell through when Carano said she needed more time to prepare, according to Rousey.
In January, Paramount+ replaced ESPN as the UFC’s broadcast partner and the subscription model for streaming ended pay-per-view; the deal fell through.
But Rousey said White gave her his blessing to make as much money as she could.