Ronda Rousey believes that low pay in the UFC is the reason fighters are having to supplement their income with adult content earnings.
Rousey, who was the first woman fighter signed by the mixed martial arts organization, shared her disdain for the UFC’s salary packages on Tuesday (March 10) during a press conference for her upcoming fight with Gina Carano on May 16.
Her comments came after she was asked about Jon Jones and the low number he was allegedly offered to fight at the UFC White House Card.
"It used to be that the UFC was the best place that you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly. Now, it's one of the worst places to go," Rousey said. "It’s why so many of their top athletes are going to find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions, like Valentina [Shevchenko], are selling pictures of their titties on OnlyFans."
Bringing up the UFC’s finances to justify why fighters deserve to be paid better, Rousey continued: "These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t even support their families and are living at poverty-level fighting full-time. This company just got $7.7 billion. There is no reason why they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage."
"They are bleeding talent because of their short-term greed," she concluded. "They are thinking about the next quarter. They are thinking about the shareholders. They are not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the sport."
Rousey’s comments about the UFC come a day after Jon Jones released a lengthy statement about not being a part of UFC 326, better known as the UFC White House.
"My team and I were actually negotiating with the UFC for that fight. Real negotiations," Jones said. "I even came down from my original number, and what was I offered in return? I was lowballed. Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight."
"So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I'd be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense," he continued. "I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today."
Jones concluded the lengthy message by demanding to be released from his contract. "No more spins, no more games," he said.
UFC CEO and president Dana White responded soon after when speaking to media, denying that Jones was ever supposed to appear at the White House event.
"I never said that there were no negotiations," White claimed. "I said, 'Were they talking to Jon Jones? They talk to everybody.' Everybody was talked to, but not one word of what I said was not true about the whole Jon Jones thing."
"How many times have I sat up here and said, 'He's not fighting at the White House?' No," White continued. "And, have you guys all seen the video of the dude with the Meta glasses on when he didn’t know he was being filmed telling him that his hips are fucking shot and he needs hip replacement?"
White added that "no way in hell" was Jones going to be booked for the White House card.
Back in February, Rousey spoke about failing to come to terms with White about her return to the UFC.
In an episode of MVP Uncut, Rousey said: "It no longer made sense for me to go over there because they didn’t want to pay us the money we deserve. Because then, from the rest of the time, the deal, they’re going to have to pay everybody else more. So then I decided to look elsewhere."