When we talk about the Mount Rushmore of the UFC, the opinions vary across the board. But when we hear what the head honcho, Dana White, has to say, given that he’s been the man at the helm for more than a couple of decades, he’s got three male and one female fighter on the list —the one being Ronda Rousey. The 55-year-old has often spoken about ‘The Baddest Woman on the Planet’ and how she brought WMMA to the “world stage.”

“While she was doing what she was doing, building the sport and the UFC and women, all these other women were training to beat her,” Dana White stated on The Club Shay Shay podcast about Ronda Rousey. After getting to the top, the Hall of Famer had a pretty rough fall with two back-to-back losses. Rousey’s one-dimensional approach to fighting was called out, but that’s where the UFC CEO came to her defense.

The 55-year-old promoter claims Ronda Rousey was arguably the biggest star when she was on top from 2012. The fact that she’d grown so big so fast didn’t help her case, according to Dana White. That’s because it rendered her unable to focus on growing as a fighter. “She had taken so much on her shoulders at the time, it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as a fighter during that period,” White added. However, not many people buy into the UFC CEO’s perspective. UFC legend Chael Sonnen recently presented an argument refuting Dana White’s claim.

Numbers, especially ticket sales or gate total, prove a fighter’s level of stardom. He couldn’t seem to comprehend why Dana White loves to beat Ronda Rousey’s drum when she doesn’t headline a PPV in the record books for any milestone ticket sales record.

“The things that she achieved while she was here [in the UFC], according to Dana, is an act. I don’t know what he does that. I never understood,” Chael Sonnen stated on his YouTube channel. “He talks about this [how big of a star Rousey was]. She does not have a single record… Live gate is a record… She ain’t got it.”

On the other hand, Ronda Rousey does hold a PPV record. According to what Chael Sonnen had to say, it’s not something to be proud of. The PPV in question not only did badly, but attempts to salvage it also didn’t work out in the UFC’s favor. Let’s take a look at what he had to say.

Chael Sonnen talks about Ronda Rousey headlining one of UFC’s worst PPVs

Chael Sonnen claims that Ronda Rousey holds the record for having one of the worst-performing UFC events under her belt. Holding the record for one of the lowest PPV buys, UFC 170 didn’t live up to expectations as Rousey fought Sara McMann in the main event. Even though she successfully defended her belt, Sonnen claims the UFC gave tickets away for free after struggling to sell them. But that wasn’t enough to persuade fans to attend the event, as the attendance was in the four figures.

“She does have one of the lowest PPVs of all time. A world championship against Sara McMann that even had a supporting cast of Daniel Cormier, just for example. It was a good card [but] it was the lowest-attended Super Bowl weekend card in history. It had the lowest gate, which you can go and check that right now,” Chael Sonnen added. “They papered the building, which means [they] gave tickets away, which they never do, and still, had under 8,000 people inside. I’m telling you—when Dana comes out and says all these things about Ronda, I don’t know why.”

Well, there are a lot of ways to look at the Ronda Rousey situation. She may have had some down moments when it comes to records and statistics, but her star power did transcend MMA. The former champion found herself in movies, TV, and talk shows, and even had a fairly successful run in the WWE. But what do you think about Dana White placing her in the highest regard after hearing what Chael Sonnen had to say? Drop your comments below.