For a time, Ronda Rousey was on top of the world.
The Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo paved the way for women’s MMA in the 2010’s, finishing girls left and right with her signature arm-bar submission in merely minutes. UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t too keen on women fighting in the Octagon, but he soon changed his mind after seeing Rousey run through the competition.
Joining the UFC roster in 2013, the inaugural women’s bantamweight champion had quite the title reign in the promotion, putting together six consecutive title defenses all in the record time of two years. But, all things must come to an end and Rousey’s empire came crashing down after back-to-back KO losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.
Just about everybody had something to say about Rousey’s downfall at the time with many criticizing ‘Rowdy’ for how she handled each of the two defeats prior to her retirement from MMA in 2016.
Fast forward years later to the release of her new book, ‘Our Fight’, Rousey has captured the public’s eye once again with stories of what went on behind the scenes of her UFC career, including a history of concussions preceding the significant changing-of-the-guard fight with Holly Holm. But, that’s a story for another time.
Rousey On How The World ‘So Quickly Turned On Me’
In a recent appearance on ‘The Chris Cuomo Project‘, Rousey details her journey from being a beloved fighter to arguably MMA’s most under-appreciated superstar, which all came after a couple of losses.
“It was really disappointing just to to see how happily everybody had turned on me,” Rousey said. “How people like Joe Rogan who were like crying in the ring out of the honor of being able to call my fights had, people I considered friends in the media so quickly turned on me. I also am kind of grateful for it in a way because it like forced me to separate other people’s perception of me from my own perception of myself, which I had realized had really become intertwined.”
“When you have that kind of outpouring of love and support from people, it’s like you’re being love bombed by the world. How do I keep this going? How do I keep this going? It was pushing me into a lifestyle that I felt like it was to impress everybody else. I was pandering to everybody, and I was doing things that I felt like other people would think was cool, but that I didn’t really enjoy.”
“No One’s Ever Gonna Understand You, That Doesn’t Know You”
Rousey’s success extends far beyond the confines of the UFC. Rousey gave Hollywood a shout as an actress with the WMMA pioneer starring in films such as ‘Furious 7’ and ‘The Expendables 3’. Following her stint in fighting, Rousey crossed over pro wrestling where she found a new home at WWE.
Moving on from all of those different ventures, Rousey now lives on a farm with her husband, fellow retired UFC vet Travis Browne, where she reflects on her stardom and the life lessons she learned along the way.
“I do not enjoy being paparazzi famous, I hate it,” Rousey explained. “So, I do not wanna be that level of fame or that I can’t have a normal life. I was pursuing that that kind of lifestyle because I felt like that’s what I was supposed to do. Being put through that, it really forced me to see that, ‘Oh, this isn’t real love. This is fake. They don’t actually know me. They don’t actually love me. They don’t actually hate me. This is a reflection of themselves and what they’re going through and what I represent to them’.
“So, it really forced me to take a step back in one of the reasons why we got into farming and agriculture. Me and my husband at the same time were looking for things that were real validation instead of that that outside validation and being able to focus all of our time on our family and not trying to become as rich and famous as possible forever because what? Like, what does that do for myself? What does that do for my kids?” Rousey questioned.
“I only wanna do what I really, really enjoy instead of trying to impress everybody all the time. It was kind of, really alienating and isolating at the time because it just felt like nobody understood me, but no one’s ever gonna understand you that doesn’t know you. So, that’s the lesson learned.”
Rousey Responds To Common Backlash, Says Past Critics Have Only ‘Doubled Down’
With much time removed from her title-costing defeat to Holly Holm and final blows from Amanda Nunes, the MMA community has not yet forgotten about Ronda Rousey’s metaphorical “fall from grace” and nor do they let her forget it, following massive headlines that emerged from her new book tour.
“MMA media hates me,” Rousey added. “It’s fine. No, not a single person has called me [to apologize for past comments] or anything like that. They’ve all just doubled down and said that I’m making excuses or lying or pulling things out of proportion or not giving credit where it’s due. I’ll be waiting for that call forever.
“I’m not waiting for it, and I get that they’re a bunch of assholes,” Rousey said, when asked if she understands where her critics are coming from. “That’s what I get. I get ‘F*** you’. At least, I would rather not have those fake friendships in my life. I would rather that those people expose themselves and I don’t leave myself open to them. I would rather cleanse myself of all those fake superficial relationships than have them still around.”
Watch Ronda Rousey’s full interview with Chris Cuomo below:
