The money fighters receive in the UFC is undeniably one of the most visited conversations in the world of mixed martial arts. About eight years ago, Ronda Rousey made a comment that ring girls made more money than the fighters themselves. Without a doubt, the claims created a huge uproar in the MMA community. However, the heat subsided pretty quickly.

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Recently, in ‘The MMA Hour’ with Ariel Helwani, Luciana Andrade addressed Rousey’s popular beliefs and tried to prove the myths wrong. She declared that it was simply not true and asked the people to use common sense. Furthermore, she backed her claims with numbers and stood up for her defense. Nevertheless, the act of courage got her serious appreciation from the famed MMA reporter.

Ring girls do not earn more than the fighters

Helwani recently joined with one of the American ring girls for a talk on ‘The MMA Hour’. Without a doubt, the MMA reporter could not stay away from the claims made by ‘Rowdy’ in the past. He asked Andrade whether the ring girls earned more than the fighters.

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Without a second’s delay, Andrade rose to her defense. She said, “I mean, this is the tale as old as time, far away from the truth…” Furthermore, she claimed, “It’s not true. We don’t make more money than the fighters.” Andrade revealed that there were 14 ring girls in the entire world and 6 were from the US. If one got lucky, she would get to work once or twice a month. 

Read More: Khabib’s Shots at UFC Ring Girls Were Nothing Compared to “Bully” Ronda Rousey, Who Publicly Criticized Them

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Andrade stood strong in her defense and claimed that the girls do not make more than the others. She said, “Let’s use common sense. Do you really think we would be making more money than the fighters, than the commentators and the broadcasters, you know, like to walk around a few rounds of? Obviously not!”

Ronda Rousey believed ring girls got paid more 

Back in 2015, prior to her fight in UFC 184, Ronda made a strong comment and hinted that the ring girls’ salary was more than that of the fighters. She claimed that the fighters should get more and believed it was unfair.

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Ronda Rousey

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Rousey said, “I think that they should get paid more than the ring girls. And I don’t know if the ring girls get paid too much or the fighters don’t get paid enough. But yeah. There’s definitely a lot more in what the fighters do than what they do. So, I think that’s one thing that’s unfair.” Later on, Rousey and Arianny Celeste went to and fro

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Watch This Story: Ronda Rousey vs. Serena Williams Net Worth Comparison: The WTA Queen Is $200 million Away

Nevertheless, the girls have repeatedly denied it all. They cleared the air that although they didn’t disrespect their pay; it wasn’t more than what the fighters got. Andrade’s recent words seemingly shut down the discussion for good.

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Krushna Prasad Pattnaik

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Krushna Pattnaik is a Olympic Sports writer at EssentiallySports, where he has spent the past three years covering prediction pieces, live event assignments, and beat reports with ease. Now a Senior Writer, he honed his editorial skills through our in-house Journalistic Excellence Program. Krushna briefly contributed to the ES YouTube team before returning to MMA reporting full-time. With five years of training in Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, and taekwondo, he brings a practitioner’s perspective to his breakdowns of complex fight sequences. His medical background adds further authority to his stories on injury updates, medical suspensions, and anti-doping issues. His storytelling has earned external recognition, including a nod from Conor McGregor himself. One of his pieces was also featured on Brendan Schaub’s podcast.

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Vineet Nandwana