Ronda Rousey generally hasn’t discussed much regarding mixed martial arts since her departure from the UFC to World Wrestling Entertainment.
However, the former women’s bantamweight champion offered some insight to TMZ Sports about the post-fight brawl involving UFC 229 main event competitors Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. After Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor with a neck crank in the fourth round of their Oct. 6 lightweight title bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., the champion jumped out of the Octagon to fight with McGregor’s cornerman. Meanwhile, some of Nurmagomedov’s team entered the cage to scuffle with McGregor.
That melee came on the heels of an incident in April in which McGregor threw a dolly through the window of a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters a couple days prior to UFC 223. McGregor was arrested but ultimately reached a plea deal to avoid jail time. Video of the bus attack was used in promotion of the UFC 229 headliner.
“I understand promoting fights and having to sell them,” Rousey said. “I really do. I get it. But I don’t think people have to get arrested in order to do that. I think I’ve been able to prove that you can make a fight exciting and make people really wanna see it without crossing any legal lines.
“I’m glad both guys are healthy. But I’m glad it was a great match. I’m sorry it’s kind of soured by the aftermath. Their performances aren’t going to get enough credit because of what happened and I really hope it doesn’t become an ongoing trend. I want people to feel safe bringing their kids to fights.”
Both Nurmagomedov and McGregor are facing discipline from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which plans to resolve the cases of both fighters by November. Nurmagomedov’s entire $2 million purse was withheld, and UFC President Dana White said that members of the Dagestani’s team involved in the brawl will never fight in the promotion again.
Such treatment was not given to McGregor’s entourage that participated in attacking the bus during UFC 223 week, however. That didn’t sit well with Nurmagomedov, who vowed to leave the promotion himself if teammate Zubaira Tukhugov, who bragged about hitting McGregor, is released from the UFC.
As for Rousey, she can understand Nurmagomedov’s perspective in this instance. It doesn’t help that two of her friends were on the bus when McGregor broke the window.
“If you’re gonna draw the line there, you should have drawn it before that. I think that Khabib jumping out of the Octagon was not as bad as throwing objects at a bus, because my friend Rose Namajunas was on that bus. My friend, Michael Chiesa, missed his fight because he got cut [from broken glass],” Rousey said. “So I just feel like there has to be equal treatment all the way across the board. I don’t think that anyone should get special treatment because they’re a bigger draw.
“I think that’s the same when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, when it comes to felonies, when it comes to hit and runs or anything like that. I think there’s too much preferential treatment given to high-profile fighters. I think there needs to be equal discipline across the board no matter who you are because people are going to start think that once they get to a certain level then the rules don’t apply for them.”
Before she left the UFC, Rousey was one of the promotion’s biggest stars as its first female champion. The Olympic judoka left the Las Vegas-based organization following a 48-second TKO loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016. She has since built a successful career in the WWE.
If Rousey were in charge in the UFC, she says there wouldn’t be as much leniency, particularly regarding failed drug tests. “Rowdy” hinted that the promotion might be valuing short-term financial gain over long-term health.
“I would be much more strict about everything,” Rousey said. “I say you get popped for steroids once, you’re banned for life. But then again I’m not the promoter of a multi-million dollar organization. You have to think about, you know, from their perspective when is it not worth it anymore? I don’t want the company to be prioritizing this quarter over the next 10 years.
“I don’t want it to get to the point where people are not buying tickets to go see fights live, because they are afraid of what could happen in the arena.”