It's been almost a year removed since Ronda Rousey suffered her first career defeat against Holly Holm on Nov. 12. Since that time, her star may have faded somewhat since she last stepped into the Octagon. Since then, Conor McGregor has seen his celebrity skyrocket, and his following at the UFC 205 press conference last Tuesday proves as such. McGregor is also in three out of the top four all-time highest pay-pay-view buys in UFC history.
Despite this, UFC president Dana White still believes that McGregor has a long way to go before reaching Rousey's status as the face of MMA fighting. In a Hot 97 interview earlier this week, White was asked by Peter Rosenberg who White believes is the bigger star in the sport: McGregor or Rousey. White answered that Rousey is "by far" more ubiquitous than McGregor's star power. "By far. Not even close," he said. You can see White detail why he thinks so in the clip above beginning at the 13:50-min mark.
"By far the biggest star. Ronda Rousey is such a big star," Whited continued. "When you go down to Brazil, they don’t care who you are. They want the Brazilian to whoop your ass. When Ronda went down there, they cheered for Ronda over the Brazilian. Never seen that before in my life, and will probably never see it again. That’s how big Ronda Rousey is."
Rousey wants to make a comeback against Cris Cyborg, but there is no date set (yet) for the match.
