Court document reveals Team Ronda Rousey demanded a massive purse and ‘special clause’ for potential superfight against Cris Cyborg

Unsealed documents show Ronda Rousey's team pushing for higher pay and special conditions for a major bout with Cris Cyborg, separate from standard agreements.

Court document reveals Team Ronda Rousey demanded a massive purse and ‘special clause’ for potential superfight against Cris Cyborg

Ronda Rousey's team demanded massive fight purse for potential Cris Cyborg fight (Image via: Instagram)

The UFC is currently facing a class action lawsuit, and it has made a lot of documents public. The Judge presiding over the case ordered the reveal of many of the formerly undisclosed documents. With the document reveal, the fight purse of the top stars became public. Surprising many, Brock Lesnar’s average fight purse topped the list. Now, documents related to contracts have become public. BloodyElbow’s Anton Tabuena and John S. Nash obtained the documents and explained the contract negotiations between Ronda Rousey and the promotion concerning the potential super fight with Cris Cyborg.

The contract offered by Forza (the Zuffa-owned Strikeforce) for Rousey had her first fight purse to be $35k to show and a further $35 to win. They promised increments of $5k for each victory. However, Rousey’s team returned the contract with notes recommending $100k to show and a further $100k to win. They also wanted a $50k increment after each victory. However, this did not include any fight or negotiations involving Cyborg. For the Cris Cyborg fight, Rousey’s team inscribed notes on the unsigned contract. This is what they wrote.

Does not apply to any PPV bout for which shall be separately negotiated,... Fee + share of PPV revenue to fighter + any fight w/ Cyborg shall be separately negotiated.
Court Documents of Ronda Rousey’s contract via Bloody Elbow
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Rousey was once the biggest star in the UFC. She is one of the pioneers of women’s MMA. Dana White once said that he would not allow women in the UFC. It was Rousey who changed his opinion on the matter.

Rousey still holds the consecutive bantamweight title defense record at 6. She was also a PPV attraction. Fans anticipated a matchup between Strikeforce bantamweight champion Rousey and Strikeforce featherweight champion Cyborg. However, it did not come to fruition. The main reason was that Rousey would not move to featherweight, and Cyborg could not move down to bantamweight.

Ronda Rousey’s bantamweight title run in the UFC

Ronda Rousey did not have to win the title in the UFC. When the UFC bought Strikeforce, the UFC promoted her as the UFC women’s bantamweight champion as she was the same at Strikeforce.

Ronda Rousey vs Cris Cyborg did not materialize
Ronda Rousey ( Image via : Sky Sports)

Rousey made six defenses of the title, of which five ended in the first round. Moreover, out of the 5 title fights, four ended in under 66 seconds. Only Miesha Tate saw the second round with Rousey on her title run. Her 6 title defenses were against Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche, Miesha Tate, Sara McCann, Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano, and Bethe Correia.

Rousey’s reign ended when Holly Holm finished her via head kick and punches at UFC 193. She returned at UFC 207 against Amanda Nunes but lost via first-round TKO. That was Rousey’s last appearance in the UFC before she left for WWE.

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