Dana White Says He Knew Ronda Rousey Would Return, Says She Needed The Time Off

– Dana White recently spoke with Fox Sports Live with Jay and Dan (via MMAFighting.com) about the return of Ronda Rousey, here are the highlights…

On Ronda Rousey’s Return: “I knew she was gonna return. The thing is with Ronda, she worked so hard for three years for us non-stop, doing our stuff, her stuff, and she wanted some time off. If anybody deserved time off it was her. We probably started talking about her coming back four months ago and that’s it. She had a few nagging injuries, elbows, knees, and she went and got them cleaned out and recovered fast.”

On Ronda’s Issues With The Media: “The thing that people have to understand about Ronda is that she is so competitive – you know, who likes to lose? Nobody does but she is like the next level and I think she just wanted time. She had some issues but her biggest issues, in my opinion, were with the media. She just felt like the media completely turned on her when she lost…Not abandoned. She felt attacked. She felt like these people in the media that she gave three years of her life cruising around, giving interviews to completely turned on her when she lost. “I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I’ve had my moments with the media and the media can irritate you. If you go through something traumatic like she did, losing and everything else, and you have to listen to some of the things being written and said, I get it.”