Amanda Nunes: UFC trying to ‘make it easier’ for Ronda Rousey with one-sided UFC 207 promos
During a Thursday evening interview with Fox Sports’ Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes touched on the clear favoritism for her opponent Ronda Rousey in the promos for their UFC 207 fight.
During a Friday morning media scrum in LA, the women’s bantamweight queen elaborated on the inherent Rousey focus in these UFC 207 promos. In her opinion, the UFC is using these one-sided promos to help Rousey rebuild her confidence after her famous 2015 knockout loss to Holly Holm.
“The UFC wants to make it easier for her,” Nunes told the media (via MMAFighting.com). “So she doesn’t feel like she’s not the champion anymore. They want to make her feel like that, that she’s not the second [to me]. They want to make me kind of the second to make her get stronger or something. I feel like they tried to promote her so she can be strong and see that. Like Ronda, Ronda Ronda, Ronda. But she knows she’s the challenger; I’m the champion. Nobody can change it. Nobody can make Ronda the champion. She’s not the champion anymore.”
Nunes continued, reiterating that the bias in the UFC 207 promos is an effort to rebuild Rousey’s battered confidence.
“They see that [she’s unconfident],” Nunes explained. “UFC sees that. That’s why they do that. Because she needs like a push so she can come back. But with me, nothing is gonna change. I really am gonna do the thing that I’m training for. And I’ve been ready for this moment. Videos, talk, nothing is gonna change the thing I’m gonna do that night.”
While Nunes believes this is why there’s a such a focus on Rousey in UFC 207’s many promos, she assured that she’s not bothered by this imbalance.
“Honestly, I’m OK with it,” she said. “The only thing that I look for in my career is this thing right here — the belt. Be the champion. And whatever they want to do with Ronda, they can do. She promotes good. It’s gonna sell a lot of pay-per-views. This is the thing that I look for. It helps me at the same time.”
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Topics:
Amanda Nunes Ronda Rousey