Rousey is scheduled as the lead guest on Tuesday’s edition of “The Ellen Degeneres Show.” Rousey, who has made limited public appearances since her loss last year to Holly Holm. The most notable to said appearances was a February interview with Degeneres where Rousey admitted to feeling suicidal in the hours following the devastating knockout loss to the former pro-boxer, the first of her career.
“I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself and that exact second I’m like, ‘I’m nothing, what do I do anymore, and no one gives a s–t about me anymore without this?'” she told Degeneres. She added that her future family aspirations with boyfriend Travis Browne helped pull her through the difficult time. “I looked up and I saw my man Travis was standing up there, and I looked up at him and I was like, I need to have his babies,” she said. “I need to stay alive.”
This interview, along with a January hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, are about all we’ve heard from Rousey in the mainstream media in the last year. Her February appearance garnered major headlines and exposed Rousey and UFC to an audience that MMA usually doesn’t reach. There was no fight to promote in February, but this time Rousey will be able to promote her Dec. 30 fight with Amanda Nunes and will also have an opportunity to plug this month’s massive UFC 205 in front of her fans who may not be as aware of UFC shows when she isn’t on the card.
The Ellen Degeneres Show airs in daytime syndication. Check your local listings for airtimes in your market.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: This is where the value of Ronda Rousey over Conor McGregor comes into play. As big as McGregor is and as many more pay-per-view buys he can sell, he can’t get the kind of exposure or get on the kinds of shows that Rousey can. It seems a little early for Rousey to be out promoting her fight with UFC 205 and 206 still to come, but she likely doesn’t want to be doing a lot of media in the weeks between 205 and 207 to focus on her training.
It’s great exposure for Rousey and UFC to be on Ellen as it reaches an entirely different demographic than the sports talk shows and the like that give UFC most of their press. Rousey’s fans are known to buy her fights in big numbers, but they tend to only buy her shows. Perhaps with her endorsement, they can be convinced to buy UFC 205 since it’s a big show and has a major Women’s Title fight high on the card.
I don’t think Rousey’s going to drop a headline worthy bomb to the magnitude of her last Ellen appearance, but she usually makes for a good interview and will give us some good talking points for the day after.
SUNDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
-Fedor Emelianenko looks to be headed to Bellator next year for a potential fight with former UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione. (ARTICLE LINK)
-Dana White told FS1 during its World Series broadcast that UFC 205 has already broken the Madison Square Garden live gate record. The current MSG live gate record belongs to Lennox Lewis vs. Evander Holyfield in a 1999 boxing match.
-Mark Hunt has retained the services of a law firm and will potentially file a lawsuit against UFC. Hunt and his attorneys are proposing a provision be added to the anti-doping policy that stipulates should a fighter fail a drug test after a fight that his or her purse go towards their opponent. Hunt recently turned down a rematch with Junior Dos Santos because UFC refused to put these provisions in his contract. (SOURCE)
-The recently departed UFC Brazil head Giovani Decker wrote in an Instagram post that he left UFC because of a lack of autonomy and poor treatment of Brazilian fighters in regards to title shots. (SOURCE)
-Guido Cannetti has been pulled from his fight with Marco Beltran this weekend due to a potential anti-doping violation. UFC will look for a new opponent for Beltran. (SOURCE)
-Paul Redmond has pulled out of his Bellator 169 fight with Daniel Weichel due to injury. Bellator will try and find a new opponent for Weichel for the Dec. 16 show from Dublin. (SOURCE)
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: SATURDAY NEWS DIGEST 10/29: Werdum’s anti-Reebok comments gets him ousted from UFC gig, Jones and Mitrione bicker on Twitter, Bisping clarifies Diaz challenge
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