Ronda Rousey has made serious accusations against UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, claiming he worked to undermine her return fight against Gina Carano from inside the company she helped build.
Speaking with Complex News ahead of the May 16 Netflix event, Rousey described what she says was a deliberate effort by Campbell to derail the matchup.
“They gave me a great deal for their last ever pay-per-view fight card, but it was them switching over to the streaming model and Hunter Campbell being the new leadership in the company. He actively tried to sabotage this fight. And tried to misrepresent Gina, saying that she wasn’t serious, that she wasn’t going to make the weight. He was trying to get me to fight other people. He was basically just shitting on us and the marketability of our fight.”
She also described what she says was Campbell’s attitude toward the women’s featherweight division, framing his comments as the final confirmation that the UFC’s priorities had fundamentally changed.
“The way that he spoke of the 145 pound division. Dana first pitched me to do this as the last title match for 145 division to retire it. And then Hunter was like, ‘Yeah, then we could finally get rid of that division.’ The disdain that he spoke of it. I’m like, f**k, you’re the promoter, okay? If it’s not doing well, it’s your fault. I just had two daughters. My husband’s 6’7″, okay? They’re not going to be 135 pounds. This is my daughter’s future, that division. He’s sh*t all over it.”
Rousey said her mother, who works for an athletic commission, provided the most damning insight into Campbell’s attitude toward fighters.
“My mom works for an athletic commission. I brought up to her, ‘Do you know this Hunter Campbell guy?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s a f***ing shithead. He would sell tickets to Christians being fed to lions.’ She was talking to him about getting slap legalized in California and he was saying, ‘Oh, this is a big opportunity for these guys. Otherwise, they would just be doing meth in a trailer park.’ This is what this guy thinks of the fighters. And this is the new leadership in the company.”
Rousey faces Carano on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Netflix in what she has described as her final MMA fight.