In a conversation with Ariel Helwani, Ronda Rousey did not hold back when the topic of UFC executive Hunter Campbell came up. Asked whether she was disappointed that a deal with the UFC ultimately fell through, Rousey made it clear the situation became personal because of the way Campbell handled things.
“It wasn’t personal, you know,” Rousey said. “Well, with Hunter it was personal because he was just a f**king a**hole about it.”
When Helwani asked what exactly Campbell said or did to leave such a strong impression, Rousey went into detail about the meeting and the tone she felt he brought into the conversation.
“He was just being such a chauvinist prick,” she said. “And he was being so dismissive and like being like just trying to get me and Gina to value ourselves less from the get-go and acting like this isn’t the greatest thing that has fallen into his lap since he’s been there.”
Rousey continued by recalling Campbell questioning the value of the matchup because of their age.
“And he was like, ‘Oh no, you guys are just so much older and I just don’t know how it’s going to do,'” Rousey said. “And I’m like, ‘Who the f**k is this guy?'”
According to Rousey, she initially did not even know who Campbell was when he entered the room.
“I didn’t even know who he was,” she said. “I was told he’s the lawyer that’s going to come and show you your pay-per-view numbers. I’m like, ‘Fine, I don’t care. Like, I’m going to knock this out of the park.'”
Rousey added that she actually welcomed a performance-based pay structure. “Like, I love being, you know, having my pay be performance-based,” she said. “Like, f**k you. I’ll go show you.”
She then described a discussion about a potential match with Gina Carano for the vacant UFC women’s featherweight title. According to Rousey, the way Campbell spoke about the division immediately bothered her.
“Dana mentioned like, because he wanted me and Gina to compete for the 145lb title because it was vacant and it’s a way to retire the belt,” Rousey explained. “And then Hunter’s like, ‘Yeah, but then we can get rid of that division.'”
Rousey said it was not just the comment itself, but the dismissive attitude behind it that upset her.
“And just the way that he spoke of it, like how dismissive he was and like the disdain that he had for the athletes of that weight,” she said. “And I’m like, my husband’s 6’7″. My girls are not going to be 135 lb.”
She continued by criticizing what she believed was Campbell’s view of larger female athletes.
“Like this is what you think, like women that are higher than 135 lbs, they can’t offer you anything, that they’re worthless, that they’re worth scoffing at,” Rousey said.
The experience clearly stayed with her long after the meeting ended. “It really rubbed me the wrong way that this guy is the person that’s going to be shepherding the company that I helped build,” she said.
Rousey then launched into a criticism of Campbell’s rise within the UFC structure.
“Like this guy does not have a job because he’s good at it,” she said. “He has a job because he is Dana and Lorenzo’s lawyer’s son.”
Rousey also pointed out that Campbell had once been an intern during her original UFC run.
“He was a f**king intern when I was there before and now he’s coming up to me saying like, ‘I don’t know how you and Gina are going to do,'” she said.
She closed that thought with a direct warning aimed at Campbell.
“Like, I’m going to put on a bigger match with Gina than you have your entire career,” Rousey said. “Keep trying to fail upwards. Keep trying to suck the right d**ks in the right order. I’m coming for your job. You pissed off the wrong person.”
Rousey also shared what she told Dana White immediately after the meeting wrapped up.
“I told Dana, I was like, ‘Last thing you want me to do is leave this office pissed off with something to prove,'” Rousey recalled. “‘Because this guy is pissing me off and now I have something to prove.'”
