As AC/DC once asked, who created who?
Can “Bones” reach the same heights under the Bellator MMA banner?
Former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley weighs in.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. All these top fighters are having issues with the UFC and Ronda is no longer in the UFC but they are talking crap about it,” O’Malley said on YouTube. “Conor, the biggest star of all time, has a problem with the UFC. The GOAT, Jon Jones, has a problem with the UFC. It’s crazy, who would Conor, Jones and Ronda be without the UFC for this whole career? Could they have been successful in other ventures? Yeah. Could they have made a lot of money? Probably not. So that’s weird. If you think they’re being treated unfairly, speak up. One way to look at it is, but then it’s like they should also be thankful for what they get from the UFC and the company.”
“In the last month or two since the Paramount fight, I’ve felt more vitriol and anti-UFC sentiment than ever before,” former UFC welterweight Matt Brown told MMA Fighting. “There are so many negative comments and complaints about the UFC these days. It’s absolutely ridiculous, I think. [Rousey’s] The real intention is to be sad and she does that a lot. She uses a lot of the victim mentality. She’s not necessarily saying all this to try to change the sport or help the future of MMA. But she wants attention and she wants to say things that stir people’s emotions. She wants to feel validated and acknowledged. But he’s not wrong either.”
No matter which side you are on, the UFC clearly has (another) morale problem in 2026.