While promoting her May 16 comeback fight against Gina Carano on Netflix, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey, in a glaring rebuke, has shifted the spotlight from her return to the business of the sport itself. The timing of her criticism isn’t random either. The UFC has in place a massive $7.7 billion broadcast agreement with Paramount+, one of the most lucrative deals in combat sports history. Yet ‘Rowdy’ believes that the financial boom hasn’t translated into better pay for fighters. That gap is exactly what she challenged during the recent press conference.

“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. And now it’s no longer.. It’s one of the worst places to go,” Rousey said. “It’s why so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere. It’s why their champions like Valentina [Shevchenko] are selling pictures of their t—— on OnlyF**s. These people, a lot of them at the ground level, can’t even support their families. They’re living poverty level, fighting full-time. This company just got $7.7 billion.

“There’s no reason that they can’t afford to pay their athletes at least a living wage…. Why would they expect to get the best athletes and aspiring kids that want to be something into MMA? Why not go into football? Why not go into boxing? Why not go into anything else? So they’re bleeding talent because of their short-term greed. They’re thinking about the next quarter. They’re thinking about the shareholders and not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the future of the sport.”

She criticized TKO further, stating, “I think that most of my criticisms of the UFC now are because Dana isn’t the owner and he isn’t calling the shots… He knows the White House card sucks… I can guarantee you he’s not happy with it either.”

Rousey was in talks to return against Carano under the UFC banner. But disagreements over money led to those talks falling through. She has since been critical of the new matchmaking style at UFC and their CBO, Hunter Campbell. Rousey said, “Once [UFC] moved into the streaming model, it’s just not about putting on the best fights possible anymore. Dana is legally beholden to the shareholders and to maximize shareholder value. Unfortunately, now that they’ve taken the reins of the company away from [Dana White], it’s barely recognizable now.”

It’s important to point out that Valentina Shevchenko’s OF page mostly features lifestyle content, training footage, and photoshoots rather than explicit material. But Rousey’s point wasn’t really about the platform itself. Her argument was about what she sees as a widening financial gap between the promotion and the athletes competing inside the Octagon.

The fighter pay debate has followed the UFC for years, but it has gained new attention recently as more athletes have spoken publicly about it. Max Holloway recently discussed the topic while reflecting on a moment that stuck with him during Jon Jones’ negotiations for a fight with Francis Ngannou. Holloway suggested fighters should support higher pay demands as a united front rather than undercutting each other. His reasoning was simple: if a superstar pushes the ceiling upward, it often benefits everyone else on the roster.

The promotion remains the dominant force in MMA globally, and its new Paramount deal signals massive financial stability for years to come. But the company is also still dealing with legal challenges related to fighter compensation, including two antitrust lawsuits, one of which has already led to a $375 million settlement. However, it wasn’t just the UFC’s fighter pay issues that Ronda Rousey aimed at.

Ronda Rousey slams the UFC’s White House card after Francis Ngannou joins Netflix event

The latest flashpoint came after Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) signed former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou to compete on the same card as Rousey’s comeback fight against Gina Carano. The event, scheduled for May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, will stream on Netflix, a platform making its first major push into MMA. Without wasting time, Rousey quickly celebrated the addition of Ngannou while using it as another opportunity to criticize their former employer.

“Ngannou vs. Lins joins Rousey vs. Carano on Netflix, May 16!” she wrote on X. “How’s that for a bamf laden double headliner? That’s what happens when you put fighters and fans ahead of shareholders. P.S. UFC’s White House card sucks!”

Just days earlier, the UFC officially unveiled its Freedom 250 White House card, which drew mixed reactions from fans online. By contrast, Rousey framed the Netflix show as a fan-first alternative, highlighting the presence of two globally recognizable names in Ngannou and Carano.

Taken together, Ronda Rousey’s comments show that her return to fighting is about more than just stepping back into the cage. The former champion is also using the moment to challenge the business structure she once helped build. For years, ‘Rowdy’ stood at the center of the UFC’s growth, headlining events and helping push women’s MMA into the mainstream. Now, nearly a decade after her last fight, she’s openly questioning whether the system still works for the athletes competing inside it.