UFC 207: The Issues With Ronda Rousey's Media Absence
With plenty of hype surrounding Ronda Rousey’s return to the Octagon at UFC 207, Rousey and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will not speak to the media.
UFC 207 will be the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the 2016 calendar year and they’re looking to go out with a bang. Ronda Rousey returns after a 13-month hiatus to face women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Rousey dominated her way to an undefeated 12-0 record until she dropped her title to Holly Holm back in UFC 193 and she looks to re-capture the belt that she was the first to own.
However, the week of UFC 207 will come with a caveat for reporters, as well as fans who want to hear from the fighters of the main event. Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting reported that Rousey and Nunes will NOT be at UFC Ultimate Media Day next Wednesday. Neither fighter will be part of open workouts as well.
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Mookie Alexander of Bloody Elbow reported that Rousey’s contract allows her to skip doing interviews with reporters.
Like any business doing media is a good way to promote a big product. In this case, Rousey is the big product since she is making her long-awaited return to the UFC. At the same time, a case could easily be made that the promotion wouldn’t need Rousey to do media since her name is already big enough to draw a huge buy rate.
But this is inconsistent with the UFC’s protocol, in which headliners, especially those involved in a title bout, are expected to attend press conferences. Conor McGregor learned this the hard way when he refused to attend the UFC 200 press conference for his then-scheduled rematch with Nate Diaz.
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While Rousey has given the MMA media the cold shoulder since her return was announced, she has appeared as a guest with Ellen DeGeneres and Conan O’Brien on their respective programs. While fighting is a topic that was discussed with DeGeneres and O’Brien, comedians with television talk shows never really aim to ask the hard-pressed questions.
At the UFC 205 weigh-ins, Rousey and Nunes made a surprising appearance. Both fighters participated in a face off, then UFC announcer Joe Rogan approached Nunes for an interview while Rousey bolted off the stage.
White was asked about this following the New York card. The president explained that the fighters were going to face forward and pose for pictures after the faceoff. White claimed that Rogan’s interview with Nunes interrupted the planned photo-op since Nunes had yet to be handed her belt. Neither was supposed to speak to Rogan, White added.
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Despite White saying the fighters weren’t supposed to do an interview with Rogan, Nunes did not appear to have an issue with being interviewed on the spot. She got into it with the fans at the end of her interview, saying “you guys ready for this battle?” It has not been announced if the two will do interviews at weigh-ins this Thursday.
It looks bad on Rousey for dodging reporters. It also looks bad on the UFC after pulling McGregor off of UFC 200, yet they allow Rousey, whose superstar stature is similar to McGregor’s, to skip media events.
Rousey received a lot of negative coverage during her absence from the Octagon. Miesha Tate called out Rousey when she visited Conan before UFC 200, calling her “pouty.” Strawweight contender Paige VanZant was reportedly berated by Rousey because VanZant congratulated Holm on her big win at UFC 193. There is no doubt that the media would want to ask Rousey about those incidents. But perhaps that is one of many reasons why Rousey is avoiding reporters.
While they’ll be absent from media prior to fight night, Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey will certainly be present on Friday night in the main event of UFC 207.
