UFC 207: Dana White says Ronda Rousey has earned the right to refuse to do media activities

Rousey is making her first return to the Octagon since losing to Holly Holm last year

Rousey refused to participate in any media activities in the week leading up to the fight (Getty)

UFC 207 goes down this Friday evening, but not everything has been going to plan during the fight week build-up in Las Vegas.

Main event superstar Ronda Rousey has refused to participate in any of the media activities ahead of her return fight on Friday stating that the media revelled in the glory of her demise to Holly Holm last year.

Speaking today at the UFC 207 media day, Dana White spoke about Rousey’s media blackout and stated that for this one time only, the UFC were bowing to Rousey’s demands.

“Listen, Ronda has given more than anybody,” White said. “If you look at the amount of press that’s been done by any fighter in the UFC in UFC history, Ronda smokes everybody by a long shot. And this is the way she wanted it.

“The only thing she cares about right now is focusing on winning. So, she’s done a lot of things for this company. I say it all the time, about Conor (McGregor) too — Ronda’s done a lot of things for us. This is what she wanted, so I gave it to her.”

When asked about his opinion on what he made of Rousey’s actions, the UFC president implied that he wasn’t happy with it, but that Rousey had more earned a pass to do what she wanted for one fight week.

“It’s definitely not ideal,” White stated. “It’s what she asked for, and like I said, back in the day, Ronda would literally do anything we asked her to do. Anything. And if the guys wouldn’t do something, she would pick up the ball and do it herself. So for her to ask for something like this, how can I say no to that? She’s done a lot.

“There are a lot of things that suck about this, yeah,” White added. “We’re in a pretty crazy position, but she’s one of the greatest ever to do it. She’s done a lot for this company. She’s done a lot for the sport. She’s done a lot for women in this sport, and this is what she asked for. She’s never asked for much. She asked for this and we said yes.”

Earlier in the year, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor was removed from the UFC 200 card for missing a press conference. When asked if McGregor has contacted him asking why Rousey was getting different treatment, White implied he hadn’t and that he’d take similar action with fighters again if they refused to do their media work.

Rousey suffered the first defeat of her career at UFC 193 in November 2015 (Getty)

“Wouldn’t that be something, if Conor was complaining about the treatment of another fighter. That would be a flip,” White said.

“Like I said, there’s so many different fighters that I have to deal with, with different egos, different personalities, whatever it might be. You can’t miss a press conference. Ronda asked to, from the day that this fight was made, she said ‘I’ll do press, I’ll do press leading up to the event,’ and she went and did the talk shows and did all that stuff. And this is the way she wanted to do it. So I said okay.

“This is something she asked for. It doesn’t open floodgates. It doesn’t change anything. If somebody doesn’t want to show up for a press conference, I’ll pull them from a card again.”

The UFC have received criticism about the amount of representation Rousey has received in the promotional material compared to the current champion Amanda Nunes. White defended the production and simply stated that if Nunes beat Rousey on Friday night, that would do more for her than any promotional video.

“There was a lot of talk about Amanda wasn’t represented in the videos and the commercials and all the things that we did,” White said. “There’s only so many dollars you can spend to promote a fight. So obviously, if you have with, is it Ronda-heavy? Absolutely, it’s Ronda-heavy. It absolutely makes sense. If Amanda Nunes wins on Friday night, everybody will know who Amanda Nunes is.”