Dana White says Ronda Rousey couldn't have improved as fighter during her time at UFC: "It was literally impossible"

UFC CEO Dana White explained the reasons that led to women's MMA pioneer Ronda Rousey's downfall in the competitive sphere. Rousey was the UFC's inaugural women's bantamweight champion and played a crucial role in the growth of women's MMA.

Rousey was a Judoka and primarily relied on her grappling skills to get the better of her opponents. She retired after back-to-back knockout losses against Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm - two very skilled strikers with respectable takedown defense. As a result, she was heavily criticized for perceived shortcomings in her skillset after the losses.

During a recent appearance on the Club Shay Shay show, White highlighted Rousey shouldered the responsibility of making women's MMA popular and it eventually contributed toward the stagnation of her skill set as a fighter:

"What happened with Ronda was, Ronda was very unique in that, she came in, an put this thing (women's MMA) on the world stage at a level at which no one else could have ever done it."

He added:

"While she was doing what she was doing, building the sport, the UFC and women, all these other women were training to beat her. She had taken so much on her shoulders at the time, it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as a fighter during that period."

Check out Dana White's comments below (1:22:07):

---

Dana White says Ronda Rousey is the "greatest athlete" he's ever worked with

Speaking further in the aforementioned episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast, Dana White praised Ronda Rousey for making women's MMA a mainstream attraction in the sport and counted a number of positive aspects of her personality as a fighter and professional:

"Greatest athlete I've ever worked with. She was huge. At the right time, at the right place. Women's fighting is where it is today because of her. She was one of those athletes, like, 'anything, anywhere, anytime'. She was a workhorse, great human being, brilliant, yeah!" [1:21:10]

White then listed down her accomplishments and argued that it is nearly impossible for an athlete to replicate her level of success. He added:

"If you look at Ronda, she came in and blew up the UFC for women, opened the door for all the women to come in. She has written books that have been New York Times bestsellers, she just wrote a screenplay for her own story. She went into WWE and became a superstar. Sponsorship deals, there's things that Ronda has done that will never be done again." [1:23:07]