Ex-UFC Champion Ronda Rousey Takes Shot at UFC and Dana White in New Video

Former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey didn't hold back when addressing her stance about UFC CEO Dana White failing to come to terms with her returning to the UFC for the first time in nearly a decade.

Having previously given the UFC's perspective on why the deal to have Rousey fight Gina Carano didn't come together, Rousey offered another perspective on why her return to MMA under the MVP banner should actually benefit both promotions (with the UFC also gaining exposure, despite having no involvement in the fight).

In a new installment of MVP Uncut, a vlog-style series produced by Most Valuable Promotions following Rousey and Carano around ahead of their May 16 fight in Los Angeles, Rousey had a heart-to-heart with co-founder Nakisa Bidarian about what a fight between the pair truly represents.

Ronda Rousey Adds More Context To Failed UFC Negotiations

Ronda Rousey walks to the Octagon ahead of UFC 207 — December 30, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Ronda Rousey during UFC 207 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"I feel like the story and everything behind it is not just this fight, but a lot of it is MVP vs. the UFC and that's where I'm gonna f****** go real hard in the trenches," Rousey said.

Rousey suggested that her partnership with Bidarian is a match made in heaven, which adds more intrigue to the growth of MMA and why it's good to have multiple promoters in the space that will produce big-name fights.

"We're helping them cause they're suffering from a lack of competition and they can't just make a class action lawsuit every couple of years as the cost of doing business," Rousey added.

White was aware of her intentions to return to MMA, particularly the UFC, before the fight was made official as a Netflix-MVP offering.

“Her and I have been talking about this since last year,” White said of Rousey after UFC Houston. "It just didn’t work out. But I’m happy for her."

Cooler heads have since prevailed between White and Carano, too.

“Listen, me and Gina are in a really good place, we weren’t at one point," White added. "I’m happy for both of them.”

Rousey said the decision not to return to the UFC was nothing personal toward White. It was simply business-related, she told The Jim Rome Show.

What Happened Between The UFC, Ronda Rousey?

Dana White at the UFC 313 press conference in March 2025 — Zuffa LLC

“It no longer made sense for me to go over there because they didn’t want to pay us the money we deserve,” Rousey said. “Because then, from the rest of the time, the deal, they’re going to have to pay everybody else more. So then I decided to look elsewhere.”

Now under MVP terms, the fight remains one of the biggest of the year, and certainly is a huge step for Netflix entering the MMA scene.

We'll see how it all works out.