“Extremely Bizarre” – When Joe Rogan called out the UFC’s Ronda Rousey-centred promotion tactic for title fight against Amanda Nunes
Follow Us
Joe Rogan (L); the Amanda Nunes (L) and Ronda Rousey (R) fight
The UFC is the largest MMA promotion in the world, and by a distance, the most popular. As such, the company employs promotional tactics that it deems fit for the events it lines up.
Many times, one fighter can get completely overshadowed by the other going into the fight, owing to their lopsided popularity. We saw this most recently when Israel Adesanya took on Jared Cannonier, wherein the UFC chose to shower Adesanya with all the sheen heading into the fight owing to the nature of his star status, leaving only a little wiggle room for Cannonier to be promoted.
On a similar note, Joe Rogan called out the UFC back in 2016 for promoting only Ronda Rousey, heading into her title fight with Amanda Nunes. Tackling this, he tweeted, “I find it extremely bizarre that all these UFC 207 promos only focus on Ronda and very little about the champion @Amanda_Leoa.” Back when the UFC had just allowed women to fight in the promotion, Ronda Rousey was the undisputed promotional wheel for the company, getting scores of new eyes to the sport.
After her maiden loss against Holly Holm in 2015, the American went on to challenge the then (and current!) bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes. Despite the promotion being lopsided, the Brazilian showed the levels to her game and finished the superstar Rousey within a minute.
Related- “I would say that the WWE” – Ronda Rousey talks about how WWE is better than UFC
Joe Rogan’s replies section is filled with people who agreed with his take on the Ronda Rousey – Amanda Nunes situation
Despite Rousey being the one getting clicks, it indeed is a bit absurd to see that UFC’s promos for UFC 207 were wholly centred around the American, and not the champion, Amanda Nunes.
Many people replied affirmatively to Joe Rogan’s tweets, including, former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. The best tweets are attached below.
As can be seen, many fight fans disagreed with the UFC’s Rousey-centric promotional scheme. However, seven years later, in 2022, the tables have reversed. Amanda Nunes is considered the G.O.A.T of women’s MMA, and as a result, is the mainstay of the UFC’s promotion. Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey has long since left the sport.
Stay Updated!
Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)