When Holly Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey to capture the UFC women's bantamweight title in November, UFC president Dana White joked that he and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta should have their promoters' licenses taken away if they booked anything other than an immediate rematch.
Of course, those statements ended up being premature, considering that Holm is just days out from defending her title for the first time against Miesha Tate at UFC 196, but that doesn't mean White has to be happy about it.
"I'll tell you this, to be brutally honest with you, as a fan, I love her attitude and I love that. As the business side, I absolutely hate it," White said Thursday on The Jim Rome Show. "Holly vs. Ronda is the biggest fight in UFC history, without a doubt. I think this thing does close to two million buys, and she's going in Saturday night against Miesha Tate, who A., is hungry and wants that belt so bad, and B., stylistically matches up very well to give her a tough night. So it's going to be interesting."
Holm and Tate meet in the co-main event of UFC 196 on March 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The fight was one Holm pushed for, however it only became a reality once the UFC learned that Rousey's return may be delayed until late-2016 due to Hollywood filming obligations and Rousey's need to recover from injuries sustained during the Holm loss.
Rousey has made sparse public appearances since UFC 193, when Holm knocked her out with a now legendary second-round head kick. That has done little to slow the backlash she has received from fans and fighters online though -- a backlash which only seemed to pick up steam after Rousey appeared on The Ellen Show and admitted to experiencing suicidal thoughts in the wake of her first professional defeat.
"That women is so competitive, and truly believed that she would never lose, and that's what we all loved about Ronda Rousey," White said. "That's what got everybody so into women's MMA and behind her, and then, when she lost, I mean, she went into a depression like I've never seen before.
"This is a person that I'm very close to and know very well, and yeah, it was tough to see her go through that, but she's 100-percent bounced back, recovered and is getting ready to come back in either October or November."
Rousey has also received criticism for not branching out her training away from Glendale Fighting Club and head coach Edmond Tarverdyan, however White believes the Rousey who shows up next time will be a vastly different fighter than the one who stepped into the Octagon against Holm.
"I think we're going to see a more calculated Ronda. Ronda got to the point where she would fight anybody at their own style," White said. "You don't want to run into somebody else's attributes. You want to shake things up for them and make them come into your wheelhouse, where you're the best, and Ronda just went out there that night with the wrong plan.
"Then even when stuff started to go bad, she didn't change things up, and she didn't mix it up. You won't see that again, I guarantee you. She's going to be much smarter in her next fight and how many fights she fights after that."
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