Undefeated UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will not be voting for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
Rousey - the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world - told Maxim in a recent interview that she is backing Clinton's main rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, because he doesn't take money from corporations.
"I'm voting for Bernie Sanders, because he doesn't take any corporate money," Rousey told Maxim. "I don't think politicians should be allowed to take money for their campaigns from outside interests."
While Clinton has recently taken a seemingly tough stance on big banks, those same banks have been the largest contributors to her political campaigns since 2002. Citigroup Inc. is her top donor, giving a total of $824,402, followed by Goldman Sachs in second, giving $760,740. Her fourth largest donor has been JPMorgan Chase & Co, donating $696,456, followed by Morgan Stanley in fifth, giving Clinton $636,564, according to Open Secrets.
That's compared to Sanders, who has received practically no contributions from banks since 1998 and is the only candidate without a super PAC backing him, besides self-funding Republican billionaire Donald Trump.
Rousey says if Sanders loses the nomination, as many left-leaning pundits reluctantly admit is likely to happen, the MMA powerhouse refuses to back Clinton.
"If he doesn't win against Hillary, then I'll probably vote for a third party again," said Rousey, who will defend her belt this Saturday against challenger Holly Holm, notes The Daily Caller.
"To be honest, in 2012 I was against both candidates and so I just picked any third party because I thought if more people voted for third parties then they'd have to take third parties seriously."
In 2012, Rousey said she supported third-party candidate Roseanne Barr, rather than President Obama, Republican nominee Mitt Romney or even the Green Party's Jill Stein.
"I voted for Roseanne last time," she said. "Mostly I went in to vote for all the state and local things. I was so unimpressed with the whole presidential campaign that I picked whatever third party I saw, and I saw Roseanne and thought, 'That's awesome.' But I'm really pulling for Sanders this time. I hope it works out."
