Bob Arum: Boxing owes a debt to UFC for making Ronda Rousey a star

Fossilized fight promoter Bob Arum usually has nothing kind to say about Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), unless of course he gets bribed — by a lot — at goodwill auctions and has no choice.

That’s why it came as a surprise to hear bigot Bob heap praise on the world’s largest mixed martial art (MMA) organization, which is responsible for turning Olympic bronze medalist Ronda Rousey into a mainstream star.

“I really want to acknowledge the debt that we owe to UFC because they took this Ronda Rousey and they made her into a tremendous star,” Arum told MMA Fighting. “She ended up becoming the biggest pay-per-view star that they had and if they could do it with Ronda Rousey, we believe we can do it with Mikaela (Meyer).”

Arum is pushing female phenom Mikaela Meyer, who makes her pro debut after representing Team USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics. That happens this Saturday night (Aug. 5, 2017) on the undercard of the Lomachenko-Marriaga WBO super featherweight title fight.

But will Meyer be to boxing what Rousey was to MMA?

Time will tell.