Dana White Says Ronda Rousey Return Fight Will Surpass McGregor-Diaz PPV Numbers

Ronda Rousey hasn’t fought since she was knocked out by Holly Holm and lost her women’s bantamweight title at UFC 193 in November. She has only made sporadic appearances including hosting Saturday Night Live in January and a guest on Ellen in February. 

Rousey for the most part has stayed away from the media and declined interviews in regards to if she will ever return to compete inside the octagon. 

In her absence, Conor McGregor has become the biggest box office attraction for the UFC. He last three fights against Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in December, Nate Diaz at UFC 196 in March and Diaz at UFC 202 all have reportedly done over one million pay-per-view numbers. The first Diaz fight reportedly generated 1.5 million PPV buys, the Aldo fight around 1.2 million and it was revealed by ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported earlier this week the McGregor-Diaz UFC 202 rematch is in the top three of all-time PPV buys.

But, what if Rousey does return? Would she generate those type of numbers considering her last two fights against Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in August did close to a million buys while the Holm fight did around 1.1 million buys?

The president of the UFC seems to think and even made prediction of what numbers Rousey’s would return would draw.

“Yes,” White said on Thursday’s edition of “The Herd.” “I think that Ronda Rousey’s return will be the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever done.

“If you had told me 15 years ago that women would be fighting in the UFC – and if you told me that women would be as technically sound as the men and the fights would be loved by millions of people all over the world and it’d be the hottest thing going on in the UFC, I would have never believed it.”

Rousey has been ruled out of fighting at UFC 205 on Nov. 12 in the company’s debut at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Fox Sports is reporting the “Rowdy” one could return at the UFC’s year end show on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. 

Do you agree with White’s sentiment and will Rousey return on the year-end show?