“I’m the highest paid fighter,” Superstar Ronda Rousey’s brilliant answer shut down feminist reporter’s “gender pay gap” dispute
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Ronda Rousey (Image Courtesy - MMA Junkie)
Ronda Rousey is one of the biggest stars in the combat sports world. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion lives her life by the motto of “You eat what you kill” and that has been her mantra to success in her professional career.
Ronda Rousey is an undisputed pioneer for women’s fighting in UFC. When UFC boss Dana White believed that mixed martial arts were not a women’s sport, Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey changed the way how UFC supremo perceived women in UFC. Back in 2015, at UFC 193, when Rousey was the champion defending her belt against Holly Holm in Australia, the American superstar was questioned by an Australian feminist reporter about the gender pay issue that prevailed in the world.
Ronda Rousey was not having any of the female journalist’s claims about men and women should be paid equally no matter what. Rousey replied with a befitting answer. “I think how much you get paid should have something to do with how much money you bring in,” said Rousey in reply to the gender pay inequality criticism from the reporter.
During her reign as the champion, Rousey was the biggest PPV star and got paid the highest among the champions at the time. “I am the highest-paid UFC fighter not because Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] wanted to do something nice for the ladies. They do it because I bring in the highest numbers,” said Rousey as she received cheers from the crowd for her answer. White also can be seen laughing impressed with his star fighter’s answer.
Read more: UFC Legend and Ronda Rousey embrace each other Backstage, Reveal Their Close Bond
Dana White on how Ronda Rousey was the reason behind the introduction of women fighters in the UFC
Dana White was very adamant at one point in his career to never hire female fighters in the UFC. The UFC boss strongly believed that the world would not want to see women beat up each other and leave the cage with bruises and broken bones. However, it all changed when he came across Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey. The UFC boss said Rousey’s face in one of the series put together by ESPN+ and thanked the fighter for helping break the stigma around women in fighting.
“You approached me, and we had like a 45-minute conversation and halfway through it and I started going, ‘Oh my god, I think I’m gonna do this. And she’s definitely the one to do this with,” said the fighter in the ESPN+ series. Following that conversation, history was made. Rousey paved the path for several other female fighters in the UFC and now they have equal opportunities to become as big of a superstar as the men that fight for the promotion.
Realizing the UFC needed to shed the stigma of its early days, @danawhite explained to @RondaRousey how he helped bring respect to the sport ?
— ESPN+ (@ESPNPlus) January 28, 2022
Stream the new episode of Rowdy’s Places now ▶️ https://t.co/HiU1yzDd8F pic.twitter.com/m635DKrpIA
Rousey fought under the UFC banner for 6 years and made a whopping sum of nearly $4.3 million. Her career in UFC was a great push for her stardom in WWE, where she’s still one of the biggest stars on the roster.
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)