UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson did not mince words about Ronda Rousey when he was discussing how easy it is to lose in a sport like mixed martial arts.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Jon Wertheim, Johnson had this response when asked about every single fight being the most important thing in the world to a fighter:
Yeah, absolutely. You know, people say, I visualize myself at this point. I visualize myself losing most of the time just because I’ve seen so many champions lose, and they don’t know how to take it. Their whole world is upside down Oh, my God, what am I going to do?
You look at Ronda Rousey. You got your ass beat, grow the f— up. It happens. It’s mixed martial arts. I don’t want to be like that. If I lose, I’ll be like, I lost.
[…]
Yeah, everybody has. Everybody f—ing loses. It’s part of the sport. Grow up. Look, Ronda, you lost two f—ing fights in a row, and you made more f—ing money than the women’s roster. You’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.
Rousey’s future in mixed martial arts has been uncertain since she lost to Amanda Nunes last December, her second consecutive defeat after starting her career 12-0 with 11 first-round stoppages.
UFC President Dana White said during an episode of UFC Unfiltered (via Fox Sports’ Damon Martin) in January he thinks Rousey’s fighting career is over.
“She’s good,” he said. “Her spirits are good. She’s doing her thing. In the conversation that I had with her, if I had to say right here right now, and again I don’t like saying right here, right now because it’s up to her and it’s her thing but I wouldn’t say she fights again.”
Rousey was a key figure in the development of women’s mixed martial arts in UFC. She was the first female fighter under contract to the promotion in 2012 and was the first UFC women’s bantamweight champion from 2013-15.
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