In a recent interview, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey teared up when talking about how she's been treated by the MMA community following her losses. In the interview, Rousey says she does not feel welcomed at UFC events due to criticism from the MMA media.
"I feel really vilified by the MMA media at this point and I'm not really welcomed back which is why I haven't gone to a UFC fight since because I'm pretty sure if I walked into the arena I would be booed," Rousey said on a recent High Performace podcast.
After the clips began circulating on MMA Twitter several fans and critics pointed out how she'd dug her own grave due to her less-than-ideal reaction to her losses and her history of being a bit of a diva throughout her career. UFC fighter Matt Brown, who has been fighting in the promotions before, during, and after her UFC career also weighed in and he's not holding back his thoughts.
“I mean the first thing that comes to my mind is what’s the problem?” Brown said on the latest episode ofThe Fighter vs. The Writer. “Like is she complaining? What’s the problem? Maybe people have said bad things about you. Welcome to being a human. Welcome to being famous. What did you expect? It’s not like she was out saving babies and sh*t. She wasn’t out there putting her best foot forward all the time. What do you expect?”
Rousey had said in the interview that she felt the fans and media did not appreciate her for everything she "gave" to the sport and just wanted more from her. Even lately in interviews years after the losses, she hasn't taken accountability instead blaming her mouthguard or a history of concussions as the reasons she lost.
“I get where she’s bitter and can’t accept the loss and blaming it externally is always the wrong thing,” Brown said. “Even if you were injured, and I can relate to this because it’s happened to me. I’ve been injured in fights. I’ve been sick. I’ve had the flu in fights. I’ve got a lot of fights. You don’t have 50 fights and it go right every time. That’s one of the reasons why we have so much respect for guys like [Julio Cesar] Chavez, who won like 84 fights in a row or I’ll mention Floyd [Mayweather], he did win 49 in a row. At some point in one of those fights, sh*t’s not going to be right and you’re going to have to fight through it."
He continued, “So for her to think that she’s special because she had a concussion, it’s just silliness. I could look at a loss, and I could give you all the reasons why I lost. But any time you say it out loud, it’s an excuse. It’s purely excuse. If someone brings it up and the first thing you talk about is how injured you were or something. Even if you’re trying to make it a reason, it’s an excuse. That’s all there is to it.”
Brown understands losses. He's suffered 13 losses in his long career. But he says that Rousey's lack of accountability after her losses is what really sealed her legacy in the UFC.
“It’s just sad,” Brown said. “Because she’s got to live with herself. That’s the sad part. I’ve got losses. I’ve got way more losses than Ronda. I fought a lot more times than Ronda. But you don’t want to go around living that way, blaming other people for the way your life is or the way that you’re portrayed.
He continued, “I don’t doubt for a second that she could reconcile everything. Like she could walk in and show a little bit of humility — like you said, just show a little bit of f*cking humility and everybody would be bowing down to her again. Hire a f*cking PR person! Just hire a f*cking halfway decent PR person, tell you what to say, just say the sh*t and the world is yours again. You’re f*cking back at the top of the celebrity list. But no one wants to hear the sh*t that she’s saying.”
Both Brown and Rousey are retired from MMA.
