White Credits Rousey for Shift Toward Women's MMA, Defends UFC 157 Main Event

WHITE CREDITS ROUSEY FOR SHIFT TOWARD WOMEN'S MMA, DEFENDS UFC 157 MAIN EVENT
BY MATT ERICKSON AND JOHN MORGAN ON DEC 16, 2012 AT 2:00 AM ET

LAS VEGAS – For Dana White, life as the UFC boss is a near-constant damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

It doesn't much matter what the UFC president decides. He can be pretty sure he's going to hear a complaint from someone.

After hearing for years he needed to change his stance toward women's MMA, he brought them into the organization, headed by bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC). She'll defend her title against Liz Carmouche (7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 157 in February.

And, of course, White now finds himself taking criticism from some fans that the fight shouldn't be the main event of a UFC pay-per-view.

UFC 157 takes place Feb. 23 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., in Rousey's Southern California stomping ground.

White on Saturday told MMAjunkie.com that Rousey is deserving of her headlining spot.

"I've seen some people talking s---: 'Oh, the women's fight is the headliner.' Ronda Rousey is badass, she's the champ," White said. "Her opponent stepped up to the plate and wanted this fight with her when others didn't – I don't give a s--- what they say, that's a fact. And there's a great card underneath it. It's a great night of fights, no matter who's fighting. But she deserves to be the headliner."

And White said it's not just a one-time deal to capitalize on Rousey's current top-shelf marketability. As is the UFC's practice, title fights headline the cards they're on.

"It's not, 'Hey, pony up $55 bucks and let's be curious,'" White said. "She's the champ. You will never see a situation in any fight – man, woman, the lightest weight division, whatever it is – you're the headliner. You're on the top of the card." News broke this past month that Rousey would migrate over from Strikeforce, where she was the women's bantamweight champ, to become the first female fighter in UFC history. But just who her first opponent would be and when that fight would take place were up in the air, despite White telling multiple news outlets that it was official that Rousey was in the UFC.

But this past week in Seattle, she was introduced as the official UFC women's bantamweight champion, and the fight against Carmouche was announced.

Rousey enters the fight unbeaten with a record consisting solely of first-round armbar submission wins. She won the Strikeforce title in March by stopping Miesha Tate, who went longer with her than all her other pro opponents combined. In August, she defended the title with an armbar of Sarah Kaufman.

Carmouche took a 5-0 record into a Strikeforce women's bantamweight title fight against Marloes Coenen in March 2011, but was stopped with a triangle choke in the fourth round. Carmouche took that fight on short notice, filling in for an injured Tate. Her next outing, she lost a decision to Kaufman. But since then, she has back-to-back wins under the Invicta banner, and both by stoppage.

White said it won't just be Rousey and whoever she's fighting for the title as women in the UFC, should she get past Carmouche. And make no mistake – she's expected to get past Carmouche; she's already as much as a 12-to-1 favorite at some online sports books.

"Everybody keeps asking me all this crazy s---, but it's not f---ing 1920, guys," White said. "There's women fighting in the UFC. There's a woman who's the champ. She's mean, she's nasty, she's badass and there's other girls in that division who are tough and there are fights out there that are interesting. I'm going to treat them the way I treat the guys. No different."

And as far as White putting a lot of eggs in the Rousey basket? He fully admits it and makes no apologies for it.

But he said despite Rousey ruling the roost, he fully intends for the UFC to have a full-fledged women's division.

"People are like, 'It's the Ronda Rousey show.' You're f---ing right it's the Ronda Rousey show,'" White said. "She's a huge star, she gets more media than anyone else out there and she's the reason that I was interested in doing this. She's mean, she's nasty and she likes to finish people. She's the one who got this thing kickstarted and got me interested in it.

"All the other girls that we sign are going to fight and this is going to be done the same as it is with the guys. We're not going to say, 'Hey ladies, you all just sit around and wait until Ronda's ready to fight you.'"