UFC President Dana White said Ronda Rousey was feeling "devastated" after her first-round loss to Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 207.
White appeared on Fox Sports 1's post-UFC 207 show and said he was with Rousey backstage after the pay-per-view ended. White was also quick to point out that Rousey is feeling better than her loss to Holly Holm, Rousey's first UFC loss.
“I’ve been with her the whole time,” White said. “Obviously, she’s so competitive. She’s devastated. She’s a competitor. She’s a lot better than the Holly Holm fight,” White said. She was backstage and obviously she was upset. But she’s got a lot of support for her, and I think it’ll be a lot better than the Holm fight.”
On the subject of Amanda Nunes, White defended his Ronda-heavy promotion of the show, despite Nunes coming into the fight as the champion. White said he doesn't think it would make much of a difference promoting Nunes, who had significantly less star power than Rousey heading into the fight, but now Nunes is known by everybody because of her win.
“Everyone was chirping about the promotion for this fight, it was all Ronda based,” White said. “I could have spent $100 million on advertising and nobody would still have known who Amanda was. After tonight, everyone knows who Amanda Nunes is now, OK? Tomorrow morning, ask somebody who Amanda Nunes is, now they know. That’s why I’m the promoter and everyone else isn’t.”
Credit to MMA Fighting for the transcription of the quotes. White's appearance on Fox Sports 1 can be watched in the video above.
