Former UFC superstar Ronda Rousey went scorched earth on the world’s biggest mixed martial arts promotion on Tuesday.
Rousey, a ex-UFC women’s bantamweight champion, ripped into the company for the substandard amount it pays its fighters during a news conference to promote her superfight against Gina Carano on Netflix in May.
The MMA legend called out UFC and its parent company TKO Group Holdings for raking in billions of dollars, while most of its fighters must scrape by on whatever they can earn.
When asked about some of UFC’s top fighters having money troubles, Rousey went on a fiery rant, specifically mentioning women’s featherweight champion Valentina Shevchenko hosting an OnlyFans page.
What did Rousey say?
“It used to be that the UFC was the best place you could come in combat sports to make a living and be paid fairly,” she said. “And now it’s no longer — it’s one of the worst places to go. It’s why so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere.
“It’s why their champions, like Valentina, are selling pictures of their t—— on OnlyFans. You know? Like, these people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t … support their families. They’re living poverty level fighting full time.
“This company just got $7.7 billion. There’s no reason they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage.”
What did Shevchenko say about rant?
Shevchenko took exception to Rousey’s comments, clearing the air about the purpose of her OnlyFans page, while also taking a shot at Rousey’s quick defeat to Amanda Nunes in 2016 – her most recent MMA outing.
“It’s 2026. Fighters using OnlyFans is just a new way to connect with fans,” she posted on X. “Looks like Ronda slept too long after her last fight in 2016.”
Rousey trashes UFC’s White House card
During the press conference, Rousey also took aim at UFC’s long-awaited card taking place at the White House in June.
She said that the product is suffering now that UFC president Dana White is an “employee” of TKO instead of an owner.
“Most of my criticisms of the UFC now is because Dana isn’t the owner and he isn’t calling the shots and he isn’t running things the way that he wants,” Rousey said. “Because he’s an employee of the company now. He’s not an owner.
“I think it was a big mistake of theirs to not let him just run things the way that he always has.”
White not happy about card?
Rousey said that White knows the much-hyped card will fall short of expectations.
“(White) knows the White House card sucks,” Rousey added. “He knows that they were pushing this for over a year and it fell extremely short of expectations … I can guarantee you he’s not happy with it either.”
On Monday, she had taken a shot at the MMA organization on social media while promoting the newly added co-main event of the Netflix show that will feature Francis Ngannou versus Philipe Lins.
“#NgannouVsLins joins #RouseyVsCarano on @Netflix May 16th! How’s THAT for a bamf laden double headliner?” she wrote before taking a jab at UFC.
“That’s what happens when you put fighters and fans ahead of shareholders @MostVpromotions P.S. @ufc’s White House card sucks.”