Former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has responded after receiving backlash for calling pro wrestling “fake fights for fun.”
Speaking on the latest episode of the “Wild Ride! with Steve-O” podcast, Rousey looked back on her time with the WWE fondly but made a couple of comments that rubbed fans up the wrong way, she said.
“I love the WWE. I had such a great time. I love all the girls in the locker room,” Ronda said. “Running out there and having fake fights for fun is just the best thing. I love choreography. I love acting. I love theatre. Live theater and some of the last forms of live theatre. But, I was doing basically part-time and I was away from home 200 days out of the year. And when I did get home, I was so sleep deprived cause you just don’t have time to lay down.”
“If I did all of the live shows, I was only home a day and a half a week. It was just not worth it for my family because we were eliminating all of our expenses and living this lifestyle, we didn’t need it. We didn’t need the money,” Ronda continued.
“So it’s just like … what am I doing it for if I’m not being able to spend my time and energy on my family, but instead spending my time and my energy on a bunch of f*cking ungrateful fans that don’t even appreciate me? I love performing. I love the girls. I love being out there … but, at the end of the day, I was just like, ‘F*ck these fans, dude.’ My family loves me and they appreciate me and I want all my energy to go into them. So that was my decision at the end of the day. It’s like, ‘Hey girls. Love what you’re doing. I’m gonna try and take all my momentum and push you guys as far as I can … fly little birds, fly! I’m going f*cking home!’ And that was basically it.” (Transcribed by Pro Wrestling Sheet)
Rousey took to social media to defend her comments and respond to outrage she’d received for calling wrestling fake, she said.
“Anyone who is outraged by me calling pro wrestling ‘fake fights for fun’ has never been in a REAL fight. While you all are tip toeing around bruising some pro wrestlers’ huge soft egos — no one is thinking about all the REAL fighters you’re insulting when pretending pro wrestling is somehow on the same level of realism. Yes, I understand, wrestling 300 days a year for years on end is incredibly tough on the body and a difficult profession — but do you know what would happen if you got in 300 REAL fights a year? You would be dead.”
Is Ronda Rousey right to call WWE “fake fights for fun?”