Former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey officially made a detour to WWE back in January, signing a full-time contract with the promotion. She recently made a pro-wrestling career debut by blowing everyone away with her impressive performance at WrestleMania 34.
With Olympic bronze medal in judo and a 12-0 in her MMA career, Rousey boarded on a meteoric rise to become a household name and the biggest star in UFC. Rousey, whose UFC dominance came to a halt with back-to-back losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes at UFC 193 and UFC 207, saw her contemplating suicide and actively avoiding media, save for hand-picked and screened scenarios. Those defeats always haunted Rousey for the year and a half after she left the MMA sport. It has been an emotional journey, and Rousey had finally moved on from painful losses after joining WWE.
Rousey’s mother, Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, was speaking with Submission Radio and revealed Rowdy’s struggles, the advice she offered which led Ronda to leave the UFC:
“I’ve told her that, and I tell all my girls that, and I tell graduate students that I teach that you don’t owe anybody else your life, and you don’t live your life by other people’s expectations,” De Mars said (Quote via MMAJunkie). “So, I think it’s really great that she’s doing what she’s happy about doing now. And, yes, I think it’s the right thing in life to try help other people and make the world a little bit better when you can.
“But if you get to the point where you’re not, I just think too many people get out of bed, and they’re not excited to face the day, and it doesn’t have to be like that. And so, if you don’t feel like that, you should change.”
“I think everybody needs to know when to go,” De Mars said. “And when you’re in a sport – and I say this for anybody, not just Ronda or UFC or judo or whatever – but when you’re in a sport and when the tournament’s over the biggest thing is relief that you didn’t lose or relief that it’s over – that’s the time to go. You know?
“You should be going into an event and be excited to be there. ‘This is so great, I get to beat people up, and they’re not gonna arrest me.’ You should feel great about being in it and not just it being over and, ‘Oh my god, nothing bad happened.’ So I think she’s really enjoying the journey, and I’m really happy.”
Any time Rousey did speak publicly about the way her UFC career ended, she was unable to talk defeat without becoming emotional or angry.
After her big win at Wrestlemania34, she seems to be happy with her new found love and finally grateful for those UFC Losses that lead her to WWE.
