UFC: Dana White Says Ronda Rousey 'Is the Biggest Star We've Ever Had'

When you think of the biggest star in UFC history, what names come to mind? Guys like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre and others might roll off the tongue for most people.

That's apparently not the case with Dana White.

Speaking to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and other media, White went into a rant where he both buried Alistair Overeem and praised UFC women's bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.

"She's the hugest superstar," White said. "I'm going to go out and say she's the biggest star we've ever had."

White would go on to describe how she is always ready to fight despite her hectic schedule that's quickly filling up with time in Hollywood. He made it pretty clear that rain or shine, injured or healthy, Rousey is always ready to answer the call for the UFC.

Maybe that's why she's getting a monster push in terms of promotional support?

Rousey's time in the UFC has been relatively short compared to most of the established stars; she's only competed twice. At UFC 157 she headlined the card against title challenger Liz Carmouche and drew an estimated 450,000 pay-per-view buys.

Appearing as the co-main event at UFC 168, Rousey and her rival Miesha Tate contributed to increasing the buyrate to more than an estimated one million pay-per-view buys.

That was the first time the UFC did more than one million buys since Brock Lesnar defended the heavyweight title against Shane Carwin at UFC 116.  

Her crossover appeal can't be denied as Rousey has not only getting movie gigs left and right, she's also been featured in numerous media publications, including ESPN The Magazine's 2012 Body issue.

While I agree Rousey is the biggest star in the UFC right now, it is far too early in her career to call her the biggest star in UFC history. GSP has been a consistent pay-per-view draw and has gained numerous mainstream sponsorships that many fighters only can dream of.

Liddell and Couture are almost synonymous when non-fans think of the UFC. For years Liddell's trademark mohawk and ice-blue shorts were the images that were most associated with not only the UFC but MMA in general for a lot of people.

Note: All pay-per-view buyrates were contributed by MMAPayout.com.