UFC boss explains why Ronda Rousey was allowed to skip media – and insists it's a one-time deal

LAS VEGAS – “Where’s Ronda?” is the most popular game in Sin City this week, as the UFC’s best-known female superstar has found a way to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

You can’t miss Ronda Rousey’s face amidst the neon of The Strip, with signage signaling her impending return to violent pursuits dotted all over town and emblazoned on the shiny facade of the T-Mobile Arena.

Yet unless you enter that venue on Friday night, you might not get a glimpse of Rousey all week, with the UFC having been forced to go to extreme lengths to accommodate her newfound phobia of publicity.

Rousey (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) fights for Amanda Nunes’ (13-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) bantamweight title belt in the main event, the same strap she spectacularly relinquished in November 2015, sunk by a flurry of punches and a brutal kick to the side of the face by Holly Holm.

Rousey hasn’t been spotted much since, and even the days leading up to the return have been no different. A year ago it could be said that Rousey had never met a tape recorder she didn’t like, making herself available for an exhausting multitude of interviews and rarely shunning an opening to promote herself and her sport.

Defeat can change a fighter, but her shift in media policy has been the most drastic change of all since she collapsed to the canvas in Melbourne, Australia. Rousey did a couple of softball interviews, including “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” over the past two months – and precisely nothing else. She skipped the UFC 207 media day on Wednesday.

The UFC’s new ownership group, headed by WME-IMG, also represents Rousey. It plunked down $4.2 billion because it thought it had a decent chance of making a sizable return, which in turn means the former champ, one of the biggest money-spinners in the organization, will get certain concessions that are not afforded to others.

“They’re supposed to force you to do it, but I don’t know what happened,” Nunes said on Tuesday, before being asked what would have happened if she had decided to skip media obligations. “I think they would make me do it. OK, they love Ronda Rousey. What are you going to do? Kick her ass.”

This all has the potential of painting the UFC into a corner. Remember when McGregor got booted out of UFC 200, which then shaped up to become the biggest card in MMA history?

McGregor’s infraction was that he wouldn’t take a long flight to Las Vegas from his training base in Iceland to participate in a media conference to promote the event. But Rousey, not taking a few steps down Las Vegas Boulevard to mumble a few words? No problem. Given how McGregor is growing increasingly vocal in his wish to be treated deferentially, this week’s allowances are unlikely to sit well with the Irishman.

Scaling back on media duties is one thing. Rousey’s popularity meant the demands on her time before she lost to Holm were excessive, and ultimately counterproductive. Some kind of correction was clearly necessary, and appropriate.

But a direct and deliberate refusal to be seen or heard creates a tricky scenario for the UFC. Perhaps more immediately, it has caused some to raise questions about Rousey’s mental readiness. Nunes has certainly drawn strength and encouragement from it, believing it means Rousey is still so scarred by the Holm loss that she cannot bear to put herself in a situation where she might be quizzed about it.

“I don’t know what is wrong with this girl, I’m going to be honest with you,” Nunes added. “If she wants to play these games, she’s playing with the wrong person. I’m very focused and I know how I’m going to stop her. I can’t wait.”

Ultimately, it is not words but actions that determine the outcome of the fight. Yet if body language also plays a factor then it tells a story of its own. The bold, confident Nunes smiling her way through Vegas will give her supporters optimism while Rousey sits absent somewhere, still tied – at least for now  to her most crushing defeat.

UFC 207 takes place Friday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.