Ronda Rousey is already blaming the editing booth for how she will be portrayed on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18, but according to Miesha Tate, the only person Rousey should be pointing fingers at is herself.
The top women’s bantamweight contender recently made a guest appearance on Sports Illustrated Now to dish some dirt on the UFC champ and a potential falling out with fans from the show:
I think people are finally seeing her true colors a little bit. This is a six-week thing. It’s not like you can really hide who you are over a six-week course. The cameras are always there. I think people are finally starting to realize exactly why I haven’t been able to get along with her and what the problem has been, and I think it’s hilarious that she’s already making up excuses for how she behaved and saying that I ‘emotionally manipulated’ her and all this stuff. She actually already seems embarrassed, like looking back on it, knowing people are going to see the truth.
Rousey has seemed rather agitated in the weeks leading up to the show, which aired for the first time on Wednesday night.
In an interview with USA Today, she described the show as an emotional roller coaster that will likely give fans an inaccurate perception of who she really is as a person. She even went as far as saying the UFC couldn’t pay her $10 million to agree to do it all over again.
Women’s MMA owes a debt of gratitude to Rousey.
If it wasn’t for her, there still wouldn’t even be women fighting in the UFC. She is credited for bringing the much-needed attention to elevate women’s MMA in the public eye. Initially, UFC president Dana White even referred to it as “the Ronda Rousey show” during an interview with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani.
As time passes, the ladies are slowly moving away from the Rousey crutch and making their own names.
There is a certain star quality about Tate, who smiles for the cameras and says all the right things. Rousey’s mean-mugging, “I don’t give a damn” attitude isn’t for everyone.
Tate is likely right in thinking that some will probably find their initial perception of Rousey way off by the conclusion of this season of TUF. Like her former training buddies Nick and Nate Diaz, Rousey could soon become the fighter people love to hate.
It still won’t change the fact that she is the best in the world when the cage door closes.
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