In a recent radio interview, Dana White stated that Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in UFC history. The proclamation would seemingly go against the numbers (PPV, attendance, gate) which would show Conor McGregor as the biggest star.
White was emphatic with his praise of Rousey stating that she was, “by far the biggest star ever.”
McGregor’s last 3 PPVs have scored over 1 million buys and he has produced record attendance and gates in those events. McGregor will likely eclipse more records when he headlines UFC 205 in New York this November. He’s also made the most (reported) for a UFC event as he made $3 million this past August for his fight with Nate Diaz.
While Rousey has done well on PPV, she has not done the numbers that McGregor has produced.
White could be talking about how Rousey’s popularity has brought the UFC to the mainstream and opened up the young woman’s demo to the sport.
(H/t: Yahoo! Sports)
Payout Perspective:
While McGregor has produced monetary records for the UFC, he’s been a little more difficult for the company than Rousey. McGregor deciding not to do media for UFC 200 and his subsequent removal from the card probably did not sit well with the UFC. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that he’s produced big numbers on big shows for the company. But, as for a shift in thinking about the sport, Rousey probably is the more transcendent star. She’s changed how people think about woman’s MMA and despite what people think of her personality, she’s been a mainstream success.
Mcgregor is bigger than the ufc brand as of the moment….dw hates it hahahaha
Sounds like Rousey is coming back and Dana is starting to get the hype train rolling.
Rousey has a lot more Facebook & twitter followers, I think Ronda reaches the female market more but Conor had a country, the best verbal skills and a guy like Nate Diaz to bring out the big fight feel.
Ronda has went to Australia & Brazil in her last few fights and the opponents especially Holly Holm were very dull trying to hype her fights.
If we are looking at numbers, you can say Mayweather is the biggest star in boxing history which he’s obviously not. Ali change the world and even if you want to exclude Ali, Tyson,Foreman and De La Hoya were and probably still is bigger names.
ETOPS – I don’t think you can compare across generations because the business side has changed so much, but for current fighters, PPV numbers are a good way to rank order them in terms of “biggest star”. Not the only way, but a good way.
UFC and dana white is just promoting one of his blonde hype jobs…he does the same for McGregor, same for van zant, same for northcutt