Dana White: Women Fighting in UFC ‘Absolutely Going to Happen’ Due to Ronda Rousey

Rousey still has three fights on her Strikeforce contract, White told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday, and will fulfill that deal before she moves to the UFC. Sports Illustrated first reported Tuesday that the UFC would add women.

“This isn’t breaking news,” White said. “I’ve been saying for months that this was absolutely going to happen. I don’t know when it’s going to be, because [Rousey] is under contract. We don’t have the timing figured out yet. It could be a year, year-and-a-half, but I’m [in support of it]. It’s going to happen.”

For years, White had been a vocal opponent of women’s MMA. But when he saw Rousey defeat Miesha Tate in March, he began to warm to the idea of women in the UFC.

His objection in the past was the dearth of quality women, but on Tuesday, he told Yahoo! Sports that he considers Tate, former Olympic silver medalist wrestler Sara McMann and Cris “Cyborg” Santos as first-rate fighters.

Rousey, though, is the biggest name and by far the top attraction. She’s the only woman ever to receive votes in the Yahoo! Sports MMA rankings.

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