Ronda Rousey believes the sport of MMA has a real problem when it comes to how legends are treated and remembered at the end of their careers.
Widely heralded as one of the greatest champions in UFC history and already inducted the promotion’s the Hall of Fame, Rousey was undoubtedly a dominant force of nature who almost single handedly forced Dana White’s hand when it came to bringing women into the promotion. She was a multi-time defending champion and shared space with Conor McGregor as two of the most marketable and impactful fighters to ever compete in the UFC.
But Rousey’s career ended with back-to-back knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, and she witnessed firsthand how quickly the sport can turn on you when you go from the highest highs to the lowest lows.
“MMA fans and media are the most what have you done lately for us crowd of any sport,” Rousey told Bert Kreischer on his podcast. “You look at WWE and they have such a reverence for their legends. In MMA, it’s like the second that you’re not on top, you’re not shit and you never were shit.”
Rousey said she learned a valuable lesson after moving from UFC to WWE, and she saw the dramatic difference in how fans treated legends of professional wrestling versus her counterparts in the UFC.
While past superstars like Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker are still frequently celebrated in WWE, Rousey saw how quickly fans and media abandoned all-time great UFC champions after losses.
“Chuck Liddell, when he’s on top, ‘He’s the best, he’s the best.’ The second that he loses, ‘Oh Chuck Liddell ain’t shit, he never was shit,’” Rousey said. “‘Rampage’ Jackson, oh my god he’s the next Mike Tyson, he’s so great!’ The second he loses, ‘Rampage’ ain’t shit, he never was shit. [Georges St-Pierre], ‘Oh he loses, he’s not shit, he never was shit.’ Anderson Silva, oh my God he was almost like a mythical creature for a while. He was like this ninja, and he would hypnotize everyone in front of him. The second he loses, ‘Anderson ain’t shit, he never was shit.’ Fedor Emelianenko, one of the greatest ever. The second he loses, ‘Fedor ain’t shit, he never was shit.’”
Rousey specifically addressed the fandom surrounding former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and how he maintains such respect and honor even after retirement.
She believes it all really boils down to Nurmagomedov retiring undefeated while still holding onto a UFC title because one loss likely would have changed everything.
“I think the only reason why MMA fans have their lips so firmly planted at the base of Khabib’s c*ck is because he retired before he reached his limit,” Rousey said. “If he kept fighting until he reached his limit, everybody would be ‘Khabib ain’t shit, he never was shit’.
“They’re like that with everybody. Name one person. ‘Brock [Lesnar] ain’t shit, he never was shit.’ Name one past champion that has the kind of respect that the current champions do. It’s really sad because I think it encourages people to get out while they’re peaking and leaving and taking all of that equity with them instead of passing it on to whoever’s next to take up the mantle.”
When it came to her own career, Rousey often spoke about retiring undefeated because she wanted to go down as the greatest of all time but it turns out her motivation ran a little deeper than that.
Rousey hoped by leaving the sport without a single blemish on her résumé that she would be remembered fondly and with great esteem from fighters, fans, and media.
“I wanted to retire undefeated because I was so afraid of everything that I accomplished is going to be nothing if I ever lose,” Rousey said. “So I have to retire undefeated. It wasn’t until I got into the WWE and saw that wait, you have to retire on a loss.
“Everybody in WWE has to retire on a loss because you have to pass that torch on, and I think everyone in MMA, they’re going to try to take the torch with them because of how the fans respond to it.”
Despite Rousey’s objections, fighters mostly retire off losses rather than wins, but she believes that could change for some of the most notable champions, especially if they want to leave a legacy behind.
Add to that, Rousey feels like most of the people talking about MMA have never actually done the sport and that they lack perspective on what athletes actually go through.
“The fans, a lot of them have never fought,” Rousey said. “It’s not like football where a lot of people who watch have done football. They don’t understand how short your shelf life is and how every fight changes you. Even if the fight you came out unscathed, you didn’t come out of the training camp unscathed.
“You can’t keep it up for very long. It’s just the human body. You’re taking impact to the head. This is your f*cking brain. We can’t make your brain stronger or more calloused. There’s a limit to how much you can take. As soon as anybody reaches that limit, you ain’t shit, you never were shit.”
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