Joe Rogan was urged by people in a production truck to ask Ronda Rousey after her victory at UFC 175 whether she would be able to fight in UFC 176 next month, and Dana White was fuming over the line of questioning.
UFC 176 is scheduled to take place on Aug. 2 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and was originally set to be headlined by a rematch between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. Aldo just pulled out of the fight with an injury, leaving a void with in the main event. Apparently someone from UFC’s production team told Rogan to ask Rousey whether she could fight on the card considering her fight Saturday only lasted 16 seconds.
Rousey, who has always billed herself as a company woman, said she would fight if needed.
“If they needed me to step up, I would do it,” Rousey said after the fight. “I would appreciate the rest, but if they really needed me to do it, they know I would do it.”
Rousey revealed that she is scheduled to undergo a procedure on her knee. She also needed several stitches to close a gash near a knuckle on her right hand (photo below), so it’s not like she will be at 100 percent health.
Rousey with stitches in her hand pic.twitter.com/yiKbnyhQ0H
— David St. Martin (@SaintMMA) July 6, 2014
Then there was this quote from Rousey’s mother:
Mom on @RondaRousey fighting 8/2: She's not fighting. Anyone who tries to make it happen will have to fight me. #ufc175
— Maria Burns Ortiz (@BurnsOrtiz) July 6, 2014
As you can see in the video, White was steamed over the question and tried to apologize/clarify with Rousey.
White wasn’t upset with Rogan; he was upset with the production crew for telling Rogan to ask the question.
“I wasn’t upset with Joe Rogan,” White said at the post-fight press conference via MMAFighting.com. “I was upset with the truck telling him to tell Ronda that she’s going to fight again. That wasn’t true. That was some s–t that somebody made up back there.
“It was the biggest idiotic move in the history of our production team.”
So maybe that’s slight hyperbole from White, but it’s pretty obvious he was upset. He likes being in control of matchmaking, fight scheduling, and talking with his fighters. Something as sensitive as that needs to go through him first.
Photo: Twitter/Mike Dyce
