Dana White was always one to big up Ronda Rousey’s star power in the UFC.
Rousey is undeniably a pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts. After transitioning to the sport following Olympic success in judo, ‘Rowdy’ became Strikeforce bantamweight champion before competing in the very first women’s fight in UFC history.
Following a win over Liz Carmouche in her Octagon debut, she went on to defend the UFC’s 135-pound gold a further five times before running into Holly Holm. Rousey’s knockout loss to Holm at UFC 193 ended her title reign and took away her aura of invincibility.
The UFC president, however, insisted it did no damage to her drawing power. White called Rousey the UFC’s all-time biggest star, and he expected that to be proven in her 2016 comeback.
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Dana White predicted Ronda Rousey’s UFC comeback to get more PPV buys than Conor McGregor’s record
Rousey did not return to action until 13 months later, when she challenged new champ Amanda Nunes for the bantamweight belt at UFC 207 in December 2016. The American was knocked out in the first round, marking the end of her Octagon career.
Speaking before that fight was official, White made a bold claim about Rousey and how well her comeback would do.
“Yes,” White said on The Herd when asked if Rousey’s return fight would be more successful than UFC 196 and UFC 202. Both were headlined by Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor, with UFC 196 attracting just over 1.3 million pay-per-view buys and UFC 202 hitting 1.6 million.
“I think that Ronda Rousey’s return will be the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever done,” he added.
That ultimately did not turn out to be the case.
UFC EventYearPay-Per-View BuysUFC 229: Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor20182.400,000UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 220211,600,000UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 220161,600,000UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 320211,504,737UFC 246: McGregor vs. Cerrone20201,353,429UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz20161,317,000UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal20201,300,000UFC 100: Lesnar vs. Mir 220091,300,000UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor20161,300,000UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor20141,200,000UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin20101,160,000UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey20161,100,000
While the Nunes vs. Rousey-headlined UFC 207 event did surpass one million buys, the tally was only enough to come in seventh…
2025-12-27 02:00:00
