Damien Barling: Understanding Ronda Rousey's Value
Why isn't she promoting this?
She's not doing interviews?
What happened?
What was that?
What now?
There were a lot of questions going into UFC 207 and Ronda Rousey's long awaited return to the Octagon. There were even more questions coming out of her 48-second defeat at the hands of Amanda Nunes.
Dana White took two huge risks leading into Ronda's return; 1) They scheduled the fight for Friday Dec 30th. Friday! UFC pay per views are historically on Saturdays. Saturday is engraved in a fight fans head. So much so that the DirecTV ad for UFC 207 said "Saturday Dec 30th." 2) Dana gave Ronda Rousey a concession he wouldn't give Conor McGregor leading into UFC 200. He didn't require her to do a single moment of promotion. No interviews. No talk shows. No UFC Tonight. No UFC Embedded. Nothing. The UFC was banking on Ronda's return to the Octagon 13 months after the first defeat of her career being enough to draw the massive audience they've come to expect when Ronda fights.
Would UFC fans tune in on a Friday?
Would the casual fan, that Ronda has the ability to attract, know she was fighting?
The overwhelming answer is yes! Yes on all fronts. In the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, frequent Lo-Down guest Dave Meltzer reported that PPV number's were on track for 1.1 million. The early estimates are generally low, meaning the number may be closer to 1.2 or 1.3 when all is said and done.
Ronda Rousey was searched 10 million times the day before and the day of the fight. The prelims on FS1 drew 1.5 million going head to head with what turned out to be a classic Orange Bowl between Michigan and FSU.
So despite no media, no promotion, and a non-traditional pay per view day - the audience was there. The interest was there.
48 seconds later a whole new set of questions presented themselves.
For purpose of time and space we won't get into why the hell she tried to box Amanda Nunes. Or how it seemed, after getting beat up by a boxer 13 months ago, she tried to employ a similar strategy. We'll focus on the broader questions.
What now?
Is Rousey's legacy tarnished? Is it destroyed?
Will she ever fight again?
Will the endorsements and movie opportunities disappear now?
Here's my opinion, Ronda Rousey will be just fine. Her legacy is not even remotely tarnished. She IS women's mixed martial arts. Her movie career, her endorsements, her outside the UFC ventures will all be there.
If she choses to work a program for Vince McMahon and the WWE it would be a massive get as the company heads into Wrestlemania season.
Ronda's value hasn't diminished. Can she pull one million PPV if she decides to fight again? I say yes. Under one condition - she drops a pro wrestling stipulation - "If I lose. I'll retire." A million people would pay to see that. I'm certain.
The only thing that is lost is the aura of invincibility. It was amazing while it lasted but its not there anymore - and that's ok, she's still a badass!
