UFC President Dana White once said that women would never be a part of the UFC, but changed his mind once Ronda Rousey came on the scene.
Women fighters have since become a huge part of the UFC and White says that playing field has been even for the female competitors.
“If you think about in all other sports what they talk about is ‘if women play golf, they hit from shorter tees’, there’s always some excuse about women playing a sport. It’s absolutely an even playing field in the UFC,” White said at a Hashtag Sports session (via Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). “They fight the same style, they fight everything and even the pay. At the time Ronda Rousey was here, she was the highest paid fighter in the UFC. These women are incredible. What’s crazy too, when you think about the empowerment of women right now — for most men this is hard to wrap their head around — a woman will kick your ass these days. It’s not like it was 30 years ago. When I grew up, they played with dolls and we played sports. Not anymore.”
The female roster has expanded greatly over the years and while the women previously had one weight class to compete in when the UFC brought them in, now there are four weight classes for them to fight at.
Pay has been an issue for women of all sports and White believes that women should be getting paid better than they are right now.
“It makes sense. I hear that all the time with soccer and basketball and tennis and golf,” White said. “Obviously whatever sport it is and the women are bringing in the money, yeah they should get paid.”
Female fighters will get the spotlight this weekend at UFC 239 when Amanda Nunes defends the bantamweight title against Holly Holm.
