Dana White hails Laura Sanko as the "Ronda Rousey of commentary" following her impressive UFC 293 PPV commentary debut
Dana White and the promotion itself had a memorable Saturday this past weekend. UFC 293 took place and featured several noteworthy events, such as Israel Adesanya losing his middleweight title to Sean Strickland, the biggest betting underdog in the division's history.
However, another groundbreaking change was Laura Sanko, as she made her pay-per-view (PPV) commentating debut at UFC 293, and Dana White showered her efforts with praise, even dubbing her as the 'Ronda Rousey of commentary' due to being the first female commentator in the promotion's history.
In a recent post-fight press conference for Dana White's Contender Series, the head honcho expressed the full breadth of his admiration for Laura Sanko, which the former fighter-turned-commentator showed immense gratitude for:
"She knew everything about every kid here and she watched every single fight that you could watch on all the kids that were on the card. She's a true professional, she knows she's like the Ronda Rousey, you know, of commentating. She knows she's first, she knows she's carrying the banner for women to break into this role, and she's doing everything she can to make sure that she always is the best that she can possibly be."
White likening Sanko to Rousey comes down to the fact that 'Rowdy' was the first women's fighter signed to the UFC and is widely regarded as the most prominent pioneer of women's MMA. The excellence she showed as a fighter is one that White believes Sanko mirrors as a commentator.
What did Dana White say about the controversial post-fight interviews at UFC 293?
While UFC 293 had several memorable moments, not all of them were positive. Both Charlie Radtke and Manel Kape received criticism for their choice of words in their post-fight interviews, during which they used homophobic slurs, with Radtke using it to take aim at the crowd, while Kape did so to insult City Kickboxing.
Both fighters have since apologized for their remarks, and at the post-fight press conference, Dana White showed no interest in enforcing disciplinary action, instead branding the fighters' conduct as a mistake to learn from.